


A Diverged Tide

by Animemaniac1010



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Child Death, F/M, M/M, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:34:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 19,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27458842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Animemaniac1010/pseuds/Animemaniac1010
Summary: A boy washes up onto the shore of Destiny Island shortly before the events of Kingdom hearts 1. It changes things, especially when Destiny Islands falls to darkness.No promises on updates
Relationships: Aqua/Terra (Kingdom Hearts), Donald Duck & Goofy & Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Eraqus & Xehanort (Kingdom Hearts), Eraqus/Xehanort (Kingdom Hearts), Kairi & Riku & Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Kairi/Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Vanitas/Ventus (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 20
Kudos: 21





	1. Start of Something New

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to thank my beta reader ceceliatarleton for her help with making this fic, I wouldn't be able to do this without her.

Destiny Island:

* * *

Sora smiles at Riku as they talk about what other worlds are like. He couldn’t help but smile at how Riku’s eyes almost sparkle as he talks about leaving the islands.

As they head towards where they’re going to meet Kairi, Sora spots a boy around their age unconscious on the ground. “Hey!” he calls out as he jogs to where the boy was.

Sora kneels next to the boy as he pulls him up into a sitting position, the boy’s head goes backward. Riku kneels at the boy's other side and starts shaking him.

The boy groans a little but otherwise does not respond to the other two boys. They share a glance before carrying the boy to the shack and lay him on the ground. “Go get Kairi?” Sora asks as he looks over to his friend, who is now not there. “Well, that’s great.”

“Hmm,” the boy says as his eyes flutter open before he squeezes them back shut. “Whu hupen?” the boy mumbles as Sora grabs the water his mom gave him before he left the house.

Sora wraps his arm behind the boy’s back, ignoring how the boy stiffens in his arms, as he manages to wrap the boy’s fingers around the water. “Drink this. It’s water.” He tells the boy.

The other boy makes a low hum in the back of his throat and starts to chug the water. Sora scrambles to pull the water away. “Hey slow down!” The black-haired boy makes a low groan and reaches for the water as Sora holds it away.

“You’ll make yourself sick if you drink it too fast,” Sora warns as he holds the water up to the boy’s mouth. He slowly tilts the water bottle. After a couple of seconds, the boy gently grabs his hand and pulls it down.

The boy wipes the corner of his mouth. “Thanks,” He croaks out as Sora gives him a comforting smile.

“My name’s Sora, my friend Riku and I found you washed up by the shore unconscious. He went to find our friend Kairi to see if she could help you, while I keep an eye on you. What’s your name?” Sora blabbers off as the boy shares at him with wide eyes.

The boy rubs the back of his neck. “My name is Eraqus, and thank you for helping me.”

“Nice to meet you Eraqus,” Sora says as he eyes the other boy, “I haven’t seen you around here before. Are you from another world?”

Eraqus coughs viciously as he stares at Sora with shock. “Wha, how? How do you know about other worlds? That’s supposed to be a secret!”

“Really?” Sora asks with a wide grin, “My friend Kairi is from another world too, she came here a few years ago and now we’re going to go out there and see the other worlds.”

Eraqus bites his lip for a second before a wry smile appears on his face. “You’re just like him.”

“Huh?” Sora says, “What does that mean?” He indigently asks.

Eraqus smiles brightly at Sora. “What’s the name of this world?” He asks instead.

“What?” Sora shouts in surprise. “Well, Destiny Island. Why?”

Eraqus starts to chuckle, which grows into full-on laughter. “Hey!” Sora yells again, “What’s so funny?”

“I’m sorry” Eraqus apologizes with a foxlike grin, “It’s just my boyfriend Xehanort is from this world. He used to complain about it feeling too small, I guess he wasn’t as alone in that mentality as he thought.”

Sora pouts before the realization hits him. “You mean someone else from the islands has left?” Eraqus nods and Sora shouts with joy. He grabs Eraqus arm and starts dragging out of the shack. “We have to tell Riku and Kairi! They’ll be thrilled when they hear that we can leave!”

Eraqus can’t get a word out as Sora manages to drag him out of the shack. “RIKUUU! KAIRIII!” Eraqus spots a white-haired boy and red-head girl running over as Sora waves at them with a face splitting grin.

“Sora, what is—“

“He’s from another world like you, Kairi!” He excitedly interrupts Riku, “And he knows someone from the islands who went to another world!”

Riku’s disgruntled face from being interrupted became excited, and Kairi looked thrilled, “What’s your world called?”

“Scala Ad Caleum,” Eraqus answers the girl with a small smile. They all felt so bright and warm.

Sora gives him a confused look, as Riku asks, “What?” Eraqus couldn’t help but snort.

“Scala Ad Caleum means Stairway to Heaven. It’s a nexus of worlds, and you can see a ton of mountain citadels surrounded by water. They’re all connected by this giant tram system,” Eraqus explains, deciding to leave out things like how it’s where Keyblade wielders are trained, and it’s built over Daybreak town.

“Oh,” Sora exclaims, “I get it now! Your world sounds so cool! But why did you come here?”

While Sora talked, Kairi and Riku were signaling Sora to stop talking, “Sora!” Kairi chastises, “He probably didn’t choose to leave. Do—“

“I don’t remember,” Eraqus interrupts with a laugh, “I probably did something stupid or got lost. The last thing I remember is playing chess with my boyfriend.”

Kairi looked at him sympathetically, while Riku looked determined. “We’re going to leave this world and look for Kairi’s. Do you want to come with us?”

“Sure, someone should help Kairi keep you two out of trouble,” Eraqus jokes. Kairi giggles while the other two boys argue that they aren’t THAT bad. Eraqus looks up at the sky and wonders if Xehanort is worried about him.

* * *

The Land of Departure:

* * *

Words couldn’t express how proud she was of the two Keyblade Wielders…no, Keyblade Masters standing in front of her. They both have come so far even after all that they have gone through.

“Master Ventus and Master Vanitas, how goes your search so far for our missing Masters?” Master Vor asks her two youngest students.

Vanitas shakes his head, “We haven’t found any sign of them. There have been no sightings of them, and their houses are abandoned.”

“We’ve visited multiple nexus worlds, and they report the same. No strange visitors have appeared recently other than refugees. And the refugees don’t match the description of the missing masters,” Ventus sadly adds as a look of pain covers her face.

“Thank you for looking. I do appreciate it,” she tells them before Vanitas snorts. “What is it Vanitas?”

He walks over to the petite master, before connecting his forehead to her’s, “Master, if you think we’re going to stop looking for your friends, then you don’t know us very well.”

“We’ll either find them, or we’ll find out what happened to them, Master. And you know Aqua and Terra won’t stop looking either.” Ventus finishes.

Master Vor sobs, “I’ve been so blessed to teach the four of you. You all make me so, so proud.” Ventus and Vanitas hug her before leaving to resume their search.

Vor goes to look out the window to gaze at the night sky, “It’s been over fifty-five years since you’ve died, Eraqus. I hope the others haven’t joined you yet, but if they have, please take care of them like I know you would.”


	2. Motherly Instincts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eraqus meets Sora's parents, somehow it doesn't go as expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to credit my lovely beta reader https://archiveofourown.org/users/ceceliatarleton/pseuds/ceceliatarleton from my Xehaqus server on discord, she helped me so much with this.

One week later:

Eraqus is munching on the bag of chips Sora gave him the day before while working on some Wayfinder charms.

He hears someone open the wooden door to the cove.” he calls out.

‘Sora’ doesn’t say anything, so Eraqus turns to the entrance and finds himself being slugged over someone’s shoulder. “What’s going on?”

“I’m taking you home,” a feminine voice tells him as he’s carried out of the cove. He’s carefully holding Riku’s Wayfinder.

Even so, one of the parts of the Wayfinder slips through his fingers;” she tells him, and he puts the Wayfinder in her hand.

She carries him over to the docks and puts him on one of the boats. He looks at the woman and sees Sora’s determination. “Are you Sora’s mom?” He asks.

She laughs, and it sounds like Sora’s laugh when Kairi and Riku call him lazy. “Yes, I found him sneaking out extra lunch, and came over here to investigate, since Riku is helping his parents, and Kairi is with child services right now.”

“What? Why?” Eraqus asks, distressed. Kairi didn’t mention any trouble at home.

Sora’s mom notices his distress and quickly goes to placate him.

“Oh,” he mumbles as understands that Kairi is probably fine. Xehanort never mentioned this when he tried to pry information about Xehanort’s home world. “That sounds good.”

Sora’s mom rubs his head before she begins to row her way back to the main island. “I hate to ask this, but is it possible that your parents are looking for you?” The second she said the word ‘parents’, he started to shake his head.

“My parents died when I was a baby. I was raised by my Grandfather until he died when I was ten. I lived with…” He realizes that he shouldn’t call Master Odin, Master. It might lead to too many questions. “My Grunkle?”

Sora’s mom gives him a comforting smile as she rows the boat closer to the main island. He can actually see it now, it was bigger than he was expecting.

_Oh, there’s Sora._ He looks so embarrassed. They get to the dock, and Eraqus watches as another woman drags him back to a house by his ear. Ah, that must be Sora’s other mom.

He probably should ask for her name. Sora’s mom isn’t really a name. “Ugh, what’s your name?”

“I’m Nami, and my wife’s name is Tsuki.” “I hope you’re not against adoption.”

It took him a second to realize what she meant. “Am I being forcibly adopted?” He asks her incredulously.

“It’s not forcibly if you’re not against it,” she tells him as she takes him inside her house.

He watches Sora wave sheepishly as he’s set down on a dining table chair. Tsuki walks into the room and takes one look at her wife’s face. “Please tell me we are not forcibly adopting a child?”

“It’s not forcibly adopting if it's willing, and he doesn’t have any remaining family.” Nami defends.

Tsuki loudly sighs and looks at Eraqus as she pulls adoption paper out of her bag. “Sign these only if you want to.”

Eraqus looks at Sora. Sora shrugs. “Uhh,” he drawls for a while, “Can I decide this later?” He asks.

“Sure,” Tsuki shrugs before she puts the papers away. “You can live with us while you decide. Do you need anything?”

Eraqus scrunches his face in concentration before shaking his head, “I just want the Wayfinder I’m making for Riku back.”

“Wayfinder?” Nami asks as she hands his project.

Eraqus nods as he starts working on it again. “It part of a legend my Grandfather told me. He said that those who had the charms would always find each other, no matter how far away from each other they were.

So, I’m making a Wayfinder for each of us in the shape of the paopu fruit. If we’re ever separated for some reason, we’ll be able to find each other.”

He finishes the last piece of the Wayfinder and looks back up to the two adults, who have teary eyes. “That’s so sweet, you’re such a wonderful boy. You’ll be breaking women's hearts left and right.”

“Well, I have a boyfriend so, that’s a given.” He snorts before a fond smile appears on his face at the thought of Xehanort.

Sora groans and Eraqus looks up to see Nami and Tsuki sharing a look. He does not like the look of this. “So, tell us about your boyfriend. Since Sora can’t work up the courage to ask Riku or Kairi,” Nami asks with a jab at Sora, whose face now matches the color of Kairi’s hair.

“He’s curious and loves to learn and seek out information,” he starts off as he searches his pockets before pulling a white Wayfinder. “He made me this Wayfinder and I made him one too. He’s really kind and really careful.”

Nami’s face turns stern. “He hasn’t hurt you, has he? Sora mentioned that you and Xehanort were fighting before you came here?”

“NO!” Eraqus shouts, distressed, “He would never hurt me. At least not on purpose. We have sparred, but that’s different. He loves me, and I love him. He’s just a sore loser who doesn’t like to admit he lost.” He sheepishly rubs the back of his neck, "so, we fight on who won. But, that's kinda part of the fun."

Tsuki chuckles as she pats his back. “Sorry about her, she's like Sora when it comes to jumping to conclusions. But she always assumes the worse. He sounds like he’s a wonderful boy. What does he like to learn about?”

“Everything,” Eraqus tells her fondly. “When we first met, I would find him surrounded by books almost every day just devouring the information. And he’s so smart. We play chess all the time, and he’s just so good at it!”

Nami makes a ‘whipped’ motion from Eraqus, as stars appear in his eyes as he gushes about his boyfriend. Sora rolls his eyes but fondly smiles at Eraqus.

A man in a black coat is walking through an empty corridor where he bumps into a figure in a brown coat. “Is there something you want to tell me Ansem?” He asks.

“I found out something you want to know, Xemnas,” Ansem tells him as he approaches.

Xemnas stops. “And why should I care about some boy—”

“His name is Eraqus,” Ansem interrupts Xemnas, before finding himself pinned against the wall.

Xemnas growls out, “If you’re lying to me, I swear—“

“Calm yourself. If the others see this they’ll realize that they’re capable of emotion,” Ansem growls. “You know full well, and Xehanort’s heartless just as much as you’re their Nobody"

Xemnas lets Ansem go with a growl, "How is this possible? He died in Xehanort's arms."

“Perhaps, instead of dying, he simply lost his heart to the Heartless. A Heartless which was destroyed by a Keyblade recently, causing him to regain a physical form and washing up on the shores of Xehanort’s once world,” Ansem suggests.

Xemnas sharply inhales, “He will not be harmed.”

“No shit. I’ve already given the Heartless an order that he’s not to be harmed, Ansem growls, “As long as the dark fairy and her minions don’t order the Heartless to harm him, he won’t be harmed by Heartless.”

Xemnas nods, "That sounds acceptable, I will ensure that the Nobodies will not harm him."

“I’ll find a cute looking Heartless. Even with his hatred of Darkness, he won’t be able to hurt it without it attacking first,” Ansem tells him as he opens a dark corridor. “He’ll never forgive us;

Xemnas walks past the dark corridor and looks back, “I am fully aware of how Eraqus is. However, he is not strong enough to interfere with our plans.”

“Don’t speak for the young Xehanort. Do you really he could bring himself to kill Eraqus?” Ansem asks.

Xemnas chuckles, “There are more than enough guardians of Light to be used if one is simply locked away in a prison of Darkness before the Keyblade War…it would be a very convenient solution to that problem. Wouldn’t you agree?”

“An innovative solution. We will see the result later ” Ansem declares before departing through the corridor, leaving Xemnas alone.

Xemnas reaches down into his pocket and pulls out a small black Wayfinder charm. “Eraqus, please don’t be a hero this time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment with any concerns or questions you have, I'll be happy to answer them.


	3. Acclimation and Preparation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang finishes preparation for the raft as Eraqus brings up a good point to Kairi that will definitely come in handy. The past is brought up, but it brings more questions than answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone, I would like to thank my lovely beta reader ceceliatarleton, for going over this I couldn't do this without you.

Two months pass by in a blink. Eraqus goes to the library with Kairi to read about ocean survival techniques for long voyages, while Riku works with his dad and Sora studies for the next school year.

Eraqus is at first reluctant to make friends with people when he’s going to leave this world soon, then at the island where he washed ashore, Tidus threw a wooden sword at him.

He soon finds out that it is fun to fight other kids using a wooden sword; soon enough Riku challenges him only for Eraqus to beat him easily. He really wanted to tell them he’s been practicing fighting since he’s little, but, that’s a lot more questions than he wanted to answer.

He didn’t really get why Xehanort wanted to leave so bad, but knowing him, he probably couldn’t stand how small this world seemed. Master Odin probably wouldn’t object to him coming back to a world so peaceful.

And it’s not like the inhabitants are unaware of other worlds; they get people washing up to shore every so often apparently. Nami and Tsuki were really nice, especially since Nami wasn’t carrying him over her shoulder anymore.

He liked staying with them and Sora. Even if he’s leaving with Sora and the others, they should be coming back at some point. Maybe he will sign those papers, but he’s going to ask Master Odin if he could first.

He is finishing up the water purifier and rain catcher before Kairi leaves the cove. He follows her out and watches as she wakes Sora up.

“Sora, you lazy bum, I knew I would catch you snoozing out here,” Kairi teases.

Eraqus tries not to laugh until Sora says, “No! this huge, black THING swallowed me up!” Eraqus’s face dropped, humor lost. It couldn’t be. “I couldn't breathe, I couldn’t— “Kairi whacks Sora, and Eraqus can’t stay there.

He goes back over to the cove, but before he gets far, he bumps into Riku. “Hey, Eraqus, are you ok?” Riku asks, worried.

“Hehe,” Eraqus nervously laughs, “I think I might have forgotten something on the rain catcher. I want to make sure that’s done before tomorrow.”

Riku rolls his eyes, “Come on.” Riku motions Eraqus to follow him. “Hey!” He calls out to Sora and Kairi, “Aren’t you guys forgetting about me and Eraqus?”

“So, I guess we’re the only ones working on the raft,” he says as he throws a log onto Sora. Eraqus couldn’t help but snicker as Riku accuses Kairi, “And you’re just as lazy as he is!”

Kairi nervously laughs. “so you noticed,” she confirms. “Ok, we’ll finish it together.”

Eraqus lets a smile appear on his face as Kairi challenges them to a race. Riku and Sora respond to her in disbelief. “Ready,” she giggles and Eraqus scoots out of their way. “Go!” She yells and the four of them take off to the cove, Eraqus in the lead with Sora and Riku following closely behind him.

“Just call me Fleetfoot,” Eraqus calls out as he wins, gaining groans from his friends. “Alright sore losers, I’m going to finish the rain catcher. Then I’ll meet you guys by the beach once I'm done.”

He finishes the rain catcher quickly, and leaves the cove to stand under one of the palm trees. He watches as Sora fights Tidus and finds himself smiling once he wins. “Nice job Sora!” He calls out as he jumps onto the sand.

“Wanna fight?” He asks, and Sora gives him a grin.

Sora charges at him, and then swings his sword with a wide horizontal arc, Eraqus just blocks and backs away from Sora.

After a couple of tries, Sora gets frustrated and yells, “Come on, fight!” to which Eraqus shrugs. Sora charges at him once again with the same swing.

Eraqus blocks it and, then goes on the offensive and hits him three times, sending Sora back. He tries to run away, but Eraqus quickly catches up and beats him.

Sora groans before lying down onto the ground, “Ugh, I can’t believe you're so strong.” He groans.

“Instead of charging and attacking me like that, try a different tactic like a kick and then a swing,” Eraqus recommends as helps Sora up. The younger boy nods and goes off in Riku’s direction.

After a little while, he notices the sun’s starting to set. So, he goes over to where his friends are sitting. “Aww, are you guys forgetting me?” He asks as he sits next to where Riku’s standing.

“We were about to go get you,” Riku counters fondly.

Eraqus laughs and the others join in. “So, Eraqus and Kairi’s homes are out there, somewhere?” Sora asks.

“Could be,” Riku confirms with such confidence Eraqus couldn’t help but believe him. “We’ll never know by staying here.”

Sora leans forward and asks Riku, “But how far could a raft take us?”

“It was probably a raft that got Xehanort to my home. It’ll take us where we need to go; we just need to let our hearts be our guiding keys,” Eraqus tells him and gets a weird look from his friends. “What?”

“Our hearts be our guiding keys?” Sora asks.

Eraqus nods. “It’s a saying back from home. It means we should follow what we feel is right. As long as we’re following our hearts, we’ll always find our way.”

Everyone’s silent for a minute before Riku says, “If we have to, we’ll think of something else. Eraqus is right though. We’ll be fine.”

“So, suppose you get to another world. What would you do there?” Kairi asks Riku.

He hmms, “Well, I haven’t really thought about it,” He admits. “It’s just, I’ve always wondered why we’re here on this island. We know there are other worlds out there because of Kairi and Eraqus. Why did we end up on this one? With those other worlds out there. Ours is just a little piece of something much greater.” Riku takes a deep breath, “So, we could have just as easily ended up somewhere else, right?”

“I don’t know,” Sora says as he lays down on the tree. Eraqus chuckles.

“Exactly,” Riku says triumphantly, “That’s why we need to go out there and find out.” He stands up and goes to the edge of the small island. “Just sitting here won’t change a thing. It’s the same old stuff. So, let's go”

Eraqus feels a tear run down his face. “You sound just like Xehanort when you talk about that, you know.”

“Really?” Riku asks.

“Yep, he would complain about how small this world is and how things never changed. I think that, even if Kairi never showed up, you would have probably realized this,” Eraqus tells him.

Riku is quiet. “I need to tell you guys something,” He says as he turns around. “Sora do you remember that women who talked to us here ten years ago?”

“The blue-haired one?” Sora asks after he thinks for a little.

Riku nods, “Yep, there was a man who came here shortly before. Eraqus” the older boy looks at Riku, “he was dressed just like you?”

“What?” Eraqus asks, “Do you know his name?”

Riku shakes his head, “He never told me, but I remember that he had this strange key weapon. Do you know anything about that?”

Eraqus took a deep breath, but before he could say anything Kairi piped in “Riku, I’m not sure he’s allowed to talk about that stuff with us.”

“Yeah, it’s probably a secret and has to do with how he’s so good at fighting, right?” Sora chimes in. Eraqus nods.

Riku looks embarrassed. “Sorry, Eraqus, I didn’t mean to put you on the spot. But, if you can tell us.”

“When I can tell you guys, I will.” Eraqus tells them, “Not if, when.” They all start to head back to the docks and Eraqus notices Sora and Riku were farther back than him and Kairi.

They talk a bit and then Sora turns red while Riku laughs and starts to run. Sora throws something into the water and then chases Riku. When Sora gets to the boat, Eraqus smiles sweetly and asks, “Did Riku give you a paopu fruit?”

Sora turns bright red and splashes him with some water as Eraqus laughs.

* * *

Land of Departure:

“WHAT?” Ventus yells.

Aqua sighs, “Cinderella, Snow White, and Aurora are all missing.”

“And their worlds have fallen into Darkness,” Terra awkwardly adds.

Ventus looks at them with betrayal. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“Ven, we wanted to find out more, so that no one would jump to any conclusions.” Aqua tries to reassure him.

“I wouldn’t have jumped to a conclusion! You know that Cinderella and the others are my friends; why would you keep that they’re missing from me?”

“Because, when I told you that you would never see Terra again and that he would change, you believed me and ran away after him.” Vanitas reminds him. “You aren’t exactly great at making decisions when you think the people you care about are in trouble.”

Ventus summons his armor. “Don’t follow me” he says with a huff and then leaves on his glider.

“Well, I am going to Traverse Town. He’ll probably end up there at some point anyway. I’ll keep an eye out for the missing princesses,” Vanitas says as he summons his own armor.

“Vanitas,” Aqua calls out, but he just shakes his head.

“Xehanort wasn’t really one to share his plans with me. I have no idea how much of this situation is from him, but it seems like something he would do,” he tells them before jumping onto his own glider riding off.

Terra sighs and starts to head to the castle. “Well, I’m going to tell Master Vor what happened. We should probably let Ven cool off.” At Aqua’s worried face, he adds, “Ven can’t stay mad for long. It’ll be fine Aqua. Vanitas will look after him.”

“I can’t believe you just said that,” Aqua admits, shocked.

Terra shrugs, “Neither can I, but he’s proven himself over the last ten years.” Terra looks off to the sunset. “I wonder if he’s still there?”

“If who’s still there?” Aqua asks as they both start moving to their home.

Terra looks up to the sky, “Someone I meet a couple of years ago who I thought had potential to be a wielder.”

“Why didn’t you bring him here?” Aqua asks.

“He had people back home that he cared about. Besides, I wouldn’t have had enough experience to train anyone at that point,” Terra admits.

Aqua looked at him curiously. “So, if you meet him again?”

“I would probably ask him if he wanted me to teach him, yes,” Terra answers with a smile. “But, his world isn’t connected anymore after the Keyblade War Xehanort did.”

Aqua hums, “I wouldn’t mind helping teach Sora and Riku.” Terra jumps at which Aqua chuckles, “I meet those two, I figured you would be talking about Riku. But, those two are a combined package.”

“Kind of like you, me, and Ven, right?” Terra says.

“Yep, I wonder how they’ve been. They must have changed so much.” Aqua says.

Terra gives her a grin. “How about, after we find out what happened to our friends, we go look for them?”

“That sounds nice; they would probably love to see other worlds.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment with any questions and concerns you might have, I'll do my best to clarify without spoilers for this. I hope everyone is safe and enjoyed this chapter.


	4. Departure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day before departure, everyone finishes preparation and goes home. Only for an unforeseen disaster to occur.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always I would like to thank ceceliatarleton as my Beta reader, she's been a real help with this so go check out her works and leave nice comments. I wouldn't be able to update so much without her and her support, so go support her.

Eraqus woke up the next morning and grabbed the spare cooler from the garage after Nami and Tsuki left for work. He also made sure to grab some water bottles and canned foods. 

He’s not really surprised to find that he got there after Sora. He has a title after all. “Hey, Kairi! I grabbed a cooler for the food. Where do you want me to put it?” 

She gestures to the shaded area of the raft. He notices that she’s making a Wayfinder. “Did the one I made you break?” he asks her. 

“No,” she says as she pulls out the pink Wayfinder he made her. “The one I’m making is a good luck charm to ensure a safe voyage.” 

Eraqus smiles. “That’s a great idea!” He says cheerfully as he spots the food. “Uh, Kairi?” 

“Yes?” 

“What are supposed to do with a seagull egg, fish, and mushrooms that may or may not be poisonous?” Eraqus asks as he tries to figure out if they could eat the mushrooms. 

“Uhh,” Kairi says, and Eraqus rolls his eyes. “We can cook the egg and fish!” 

“With what? A fire on a raft in the middle of the water?” Eraqus sasses. “I’ll grab some more coconuts. We should be good then,” Eraqus says as he dumps the food they couldn’t and probably shouldn’t eat. 

Kairi calls out, “Sorry Eraqus. Thanks for this!” Eraqus rolls his eyes but manages to quickly gather several coconuts. He goes to see Riku and Sora fighting, and Sora gets his butt kicked. 

Eraqus goes up to them as Riku helps him up. “Hey, guys” He greets, “What did I miss?” He asks. 

“We were sparring and the winner would get to share a paopu fruit with Kairi,” Riku says, causing Sora to sputter that they weren’t sparring for that. 

A mischievous grin appears on his face, “Hey, Riku, since you won, how about you share a paopu fruit with Kairi and Sora?” Riku’s cheeks turn red as Sora looks at Eraqus with betrayal. 

“Well, I’m heading back. I didn’t put on any sunscreen this time,” Eraqus says, knowing now that Sora isn’t the only one attracted to both of his friends. 

* * *

As he heads home, he wonders if he and Xehanort were just as bad. Vor and Baldr did need to lock them in a closet. Maybe he should do that too with those three. 

After Riku heads home, Sora and Kairi sit on the dock, “You know, Riku has changed.” 

“Huh, what do you mean?” He asks. Riku didn’t seem like he changed much. 

“Well,” Kairi trails off as if she loses her train of thought. 

Sora tilts his head, “Are you ok?” 

“Sora! Let’s take the raft and go! Just the two of us,” Kairi tells him enthusiastically. 

“WHAT!” Sora almost shouts, “Kairi—” 

She giggles, “Just kidding.” 

“What’s gotten into you? You’re the one that’s changed, Kairi,” he says with a small amount of disapproval. 

She’s quiet for a second, “You know, I was a little afraid at first.” She pulls out her mostly finished lucky charm. “But now I’m ready. 

No matter where I go or what I see, I know I can always come back here. Right?” She asks as she turns back to Sora. 

“Yeah of course,” he says. She will always have a place here, and if Eraqus comes back with them, so will he. 

She looks back at the sunset. “That’s good,” she says and after a short pause, continues “Sora, don’t ever change.” 

“Huh?” Sora asks as she stands up. 

“I just can’t wait. Once we set sail, it’ll be great!” 

Sora smiles and then stands up, “It’ll be one grand adventure for the four of us!” 

* * *

Eraqus looks outside while Nami makes dinner. He blinks. ‘ _Where did this storm come_ _from?_ he reflects before he realizes, _no, it can’t be_. 

He rushes out the door to the dock, rowing as fast as he can. He reaches the opposite shore and sees a sphere of Darkness above the island. “This world” he chokes out, “is falling into Darkness.” He looks down at the other boats. “Kairi’s boat is here. I need to find her.” 

He runs off to the cove. _‘S_ _he’s probably trying to tie down the raft’_ he thinks as he gets to the door. 

He runs in only for more darkness to seal the door, “No,” he says as Shadow Heartless appear around him. He summons his training Keyblade, “Alright, you want to fight?” 

* * *

Meanwhile: 

“Everyone’s boat!” Sora exclaims before these Shadow creatures appear from the ground. 

He looks at them with horror before he goes to hit them with his wooden sword. It goes right through them, so he runs towards the secret spot. Before he gets too close to it, he spots Riku and runs up to him. 

“Riku!” Sora yells, “Where’s Kairi and Eraqus? I thought they were with you?” 

Riku doesn’t turn to look at Sora. “The door has opened…” 

“What?” Sora exclaims. 

Riku turns to face Sora. “The door has opened, Sora! Now we can go to the outside world!” 

“What are you talking about? We got to find Kairi and Eraqus!” Sora yells. 

Riku shakes his head. “they’re coming with us!” Sora takes a step back. “Once we step through, we might not be able to come back. 

We may never see our parents again. There’s no turning back.” He takes a breath. “But this might be our only chance. We can’t let fear stop us!” A pool of shadows erupts from beneath him. “I’m not afraid of the Darkness!” 

Riku holds out his hand for Sora to take as the shadows grab at his legs. Sora runs over to him; the shadows wrap themselves around both of them as Sora tries to take Riku’s hand. He’s engulfed by the shadows. 

* * *

Eraqus mows down another group of Shadow Heartless as he heads towards the raft. They just keep coming. _‘Is_ _this what you mean Master Odin? When you said a doomed world cannot be stopped from falling into Darkness once it’s begun?’_

Once he gets to the ledge, he notices the raft has disappeared and Kairi was nowhere in sight. “Are you kidding me?” He asks. There was no way Kairi would have just left with the raft. He looks up to the tree with the star and remembers that there's this weird tunnel system connected to the cave up there that should let him get out. 

As he runs up there, a tree is uprooted and he feels himself floating. When he jumps up to a ledge, a tree whacks him on the back of his head. His vision instantly goes black. 

* * *

A bright light pierces through the Darkness as it fades the pool of shadows and Riku is gone. In place of his wooden sword, a giant key sits in his hand. He looks at the weapon in confusion as a mysterious voice echoes out “Keyblade” a couple of times. 

He runs over to the cove, destroying the creatures as he goes. When he tries to open the door to the cove, it won’t budge. “What the...” he groans and runs to the secret place to find a giant door there. 

He opens it and runs inside; he spots Kairi looking at the strange wooden door with no handle. “Kairi.” 

She turns around and weakly calls out, “Sora” as she reaches for him the door behind her swinging open and a miasma of shadows flooding the room. Sora braces himself, and Kairi goes flying toward him. 

He tries to catch her, but as they collide, she vanishes into thin air. He’s then flung back out of the secret place. There’s not much left of the island now; there isn’t even a sea anymore from what he could see. 

He sees a ton of debris and something white is being sucked up into the giant shadowy ball that’s above the island. He spots the same giant monster from his dream and goes to attack it. 

He hits it a couple of times before these shadowy orbs come right at him. He manages to hit one back but another hits him. 

He manages to hit the rest of the shadowy orbs back before the monster slams one of its hands into the ground and a pool of shadows manifests in the area around the arm. The creatures rise from the pool. 

_‘If this is anything like my dream, then I should focus on the monster rather than those creatures,'_ he thinks as he keeps hitting the arm in the ground, occasionally thrashing the creatures away when they get too close. 

Sooner than he would like, it pulls its hand out from the ground and leans back. He goes and attacks the monster’s arm again. After a couple of combos, the monster pulls its arm back and shoves it into the ground. 

It pulls its arm out, and in its palm an orb of shadowy energy crackles. Sora looks at it with horror before attacking the other arm. The monster releases the ball and it soon starts raining down small orbs that he doesn’t want to be hit by. 

He focuses all his energy on dodging and eventually starts to combo it again. It leans back, and the shadow orbs are coming out of its chest again. He makes sure to hit all the orbs that come to him back, and it seems to damage it. 

He then runs up to the arm and manages to get onto it. He carefully runs to the monster’s face and starts to combo it. He manages to get a couple of combos before it jostles him off. 

It raises its hands so Sora can hit them anymore. So, he focuses on the creatures still running around. After destroying them, the monster thrusts it’s arm into the ground again. He combos it a couple of times. 

It seems like it was defeated as it pulls out its arm and staggers back, but the vortex above them only seems to get stronger as Sora grabs onto what’s left of the dock. 

The creature is sucked up, and the force of the vortex makes his vision shake as he holds onto the dock for dear life. He eventually loses his grip, and he’s pulled into the giant orb above. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, remember to leave any questions or concerns in the comments. I'll be sure to get back to you. I want to hear everyone's thoughts on the story.


	5. An Unpleasant Awakening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sora wakes up in Traverse Town, while he tries to find out what happened to his friend, Eraqus finds out that maybe not everything is as it seems.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to thank ceceliatarleton for beta reading this chapter, I couldn't do this without her.

Sora feels a tongue lick his face. He opens his eyes and sees a weird dog and an unfamiliar alley. "What a weird dream,” he says aloud before closing his eyes again. The dog jumps on him, startling him. “This isn’t a dream!” he realizes. 

He stands up and looks around, “Where am I?” He wonders as he looks at his surroundings and then the dog. “Do you know where I am?” he asks. 

The dog runs off and he yells, “Hey!” before he runs after it, seeing a plaza. A strange creature is walking back and forth, and the entire place looks so different from what he’s ever seen back home. 

“I’m in another world!” he yells, just realizing he’s not at the islands anymore.

He walks into a strange-looking shop and spots a blond-haired man. 

* * *

The first thing Eraqus notices as he wakes up is that it feels like Vor accidentally gave him a concussion with her Keyblade again. The second was that there was a whining sound coming from next to him. 

He opens his eyes and looks to his left. A black and purple colored fox is lying right next to him. It seems to perk up now that he’s awake. It jumps onto his lap and he sees on its chest is a Heartless emblem. 

He summons his Keyblade, but the Heartless doesn’t do anything but look at him confused, it tilts its head cutely, and he has to fight the urge to coo at it. 

_‘It’s a Heartless. It’s evil,_ _and_ _the second I let my guard down it’ll strike.’_ He thinks as he watches as it sits calmly on his lap. It puts its front legs on his chest and starts licking his chin. 

He couldn’t help but pet its head. It leans into his hand and he knows he’s doomed. “What kind of Heartless are you?” he asks as it hops off his lap. 

He looks around. ‘this place looks strangely familiar’ he thinks as he looks at the strange trees. 

“Hmm, lost, are we?” a voice says from behind him. He spins to face the voice only to see two eyes and a mouth 

“Ah!” he yells as he jumps back. The Heartless runs in front of him, between him and the creature. “Uh, hi.” 

The cat fully phases into view. “Hello again. You’ve been gone for a while.” 

“I have?” he asks. He feels like he’s been here recently. _‘When have I been here before?’_ he wonders as his head throbs. 

“You have?” the cat says and he looks at the cat confused. 

“You just said-” he says before he asks, “Who are you?” 

“A Chesire cat, if you please. Or if you don’t.” Chesire Cat tells him, “But I’ve already told you that. But alas.” The Chesire Cat fades. 

Eraqus turns around again, only for the cat to be in his face. Eraqus jumps back in surprise, landing on the ground with a thud. “Agh!” he yells. 

“I suppose that’s something you’ve lost,” the Chesire Cat says. 

Eraqus looks at him confusedly as the Heartless whines, “What do you mean?” he asks. he lost meeting the cat? “We’ve met before?” he asks. 

“Before.” The cat disappears and reappears again, standing on its head. “Now, what does it matter?” 

Eraqus looks at it confused, “It... I’m Eraqus. It’s nice to meet you. Do you know where my friends are?” he asks. 

“Which ones?” The cat asks as he once again vanishes and reappears somewhere else. “The ones who dodged fate or the ones whose fate awaits?” 

He looks at the Cat confused, “Uh, both?” He asks, not sure what he meant. 

“Some are in a world very hollow, but don’t sorrow. Another will be here tomorrow.” With a smug grin, the Chesire Cat disappears. Eraqus waits a couple of seconds for it to reappear again. 

After it doesn’t appear again, he looks at the Heartless who starts rubbing against him. He bends down and starts petting it. “What do you think all that was about?” he asks it. 

He shakes his head, “Talking to a Heartless. What am I doing?” He looks at it, “You’re supposed to be evil and bad. Darkness is evil and bad, so why aren’t you acting like it.” He accuses it. 

It lays down and exposes its belly. “No,” He says, “I will not fall for your trickery.” 

He tries to activate his Keyblade armor only for it not to work. “Seriously?” He asks, “Why isn’t this working?” 

He considers opening the Lanes Between without his armor but decides not to. _‘It's too dangerous, Master Odin says that it could lead to our Hearts being engulfed in Darkness.’_

The Heartless starts to tug on his pants. He looks at it as it starts to tug harder and whines. Desperately trying to pull him back. He sighs and follows it. Barely missing a bunch of card guards marching by. 

The sight of the cards gives him a headache as if he’s forgetting something. 

**“OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!!!” a woman screams, she has a crown and heart-shaped** **scepter** **.**

He blinks in confusion, _‘where did that come from?’_ he wonders as the last of the cards leaves. “It’s probably best to avoid them though.” he decides as he heads in the opposite direction. 

* * *

Sora leaves Cid’s shop and goes into the item shop, he spots three ducklings. "Hey, have any of you seen a girl with red hair?" The ducklings shake their head no, "how about a boy with silver hair or a boy with black hair styled like a pineapple?"

"Nope, sorry." The one in red says.

The one with a blue shirt says, "we haven't seen anyone like that."

"We'll keep an eye out though, I'm Louie!" the one in green says.

"I'm Dewey!"

"And I'm Huey!" the one in red tells him.

He leaves the shop through the first-floor exit and hears them yell out, "Come back soon!"

He spots a lady but she didn't look very friendly, he also saw a boy that looked like Tidus. He goes over to him and the boy tells him, "Before you ask, no. I don't know where your friends and family are." Sora decides to leave the square and head up the stairs he saw to the right of Cid's shop. He spots a rotund man and goes up to him.

"Hi, I'm Sora. Have you seen..." He doesn't even finish his sentence before the man shakes his head.

"You're our newest arrival, there hasn't been anyone new in over a week." He tells him and Sora walks away. "Though you could try the second district! It's just through that door. I would be careful though. Strange creatures have overrun the second and third district!" The man yells out.

Sora runs to the second district. _‘Maybe one of the others is there,_ _’_ he thinks as he opens the giant door. 

The first thing he sees a man fall to the ground with a horrified expression on his face as a glowing heart appears from his chest and his body turns into small purple lights. 

The heart is sucked into a dark purple vortex and a strange creature appears, somewhat similar to the creatures that attacked him, the creature immediately disappears. 

He manages to summon the key weapon he used on the island and easily beats the shadow creatures. He looks around the area, fighting the creatures and performing jumps to get to chests as he looked around. 

He finds no signs of his friends and heads back to Cid. The creatures appear in the area he was before and everyone has vanished. He heads inside, “Hey Cid.” He says glumly. 

“Still no sign of em?” Cid asks Sora nods and the man shrugs. “Take another look around town,” he recommends. Sora rolls his eyes and leaves the shop. 

“They’ll come at you out of nowhere,” a voice says from behind him. 

He turns around, Keyblade in hand. “Who are you?” he asks. 

“And they’ll keep coming after you.” A brown-haired man with a gun sword says, ignoring Sora’s question. “As long as you continue to wield the Keyblade.” 

The man steps away from the wall he was leaning against. “But why?” he asks. “Why would it choose a kid like you?” 

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?” he asks indignantly. 

“Never mind.” the man says as he walks over to him. “Now, let’s see that Keyblade.” 

“What?” he says as he readies a stance. “There’s no way you’re getting this!” He yells, fully prepared to fight for the thing that has let him fight the monsters. 

The man pulls out his gun sword. “All right, then have it your way.” 

The man swings his blade down and then summons a fireball that he has to run out of the way from. The second fireball he tries to hit back and misses, taking it in the middle of his chest. 

The third fireball he manages to hit back, and it seems to stun him. Sora uses one of the potions Kairi gave him on himself and charges at his opponent. 

Unluckily for him, the man just comes out of his daze after one hit and lands a combo on Sora knocking him back. 

Sora barely manages to move out of the way of the fireball the man sends at him. He doesn’t notice he’s gotten close to his assailant until the man brings the end of the sword down on his head. 

The last thing he sees is three of the man before he passes out.

* * *

Xemnas and Ansem watch Riku look around confusion in Hollow Bastion as the evil fairy watches the boy from afar. “Where did you find that Heartless?” Xemnas asks. 

“I made it,” Ansem replies nonchalantly. 

Xemnas whips his head towards Ansem, “How did you do that? You are too weak to even defeat a child in your state.” 

“I simply used the Dream Eater pet recipe Ava’s dandelions used and a Shadow Heartless to make a Dream Eater that would listen to my commands,” Ansem tells him as they watch Riku jump up the platforms. 

Xemnas makes a low hum sound in the back of his throat, “So, it is more a Dream Eater than a Heartless?” 

“I would equate it to being a Heartless that acts more like a Dream Eater.” Ansem retorts as Riku barely catches onto a platform. “He hasn’t changed much, at least from Xehanort’s memories.” 

Xemnas shakes his head, “Were you expecting him to? He’s been dead or a Heartless for decades.” 

“Perhaps,” Ansem agrees before a curious look appears on his face. “What are you doing with the other Keyblade Masters? They are not part of the plan.” 

Xemnas gives him a look of poorly disguised annoyance. “We’ve gone over this. They are unlikely to be leaving the worlds they are on —” 

“Wait,” Ansem interrupts, surprise barely evident in his voice. “You are NOT behind their disappearance?” he asks. 

Xemnas shakes his head. “I was under the impression that was your doing. This is not the case?” 

“It seems,” Ansem says, “That we are not the only players on the field right now. However, only time will tell if this mysterious force is an ally or foe.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave your thoughts and questions in the comments. I'll try to answer them without spoiling too much. I should be updating again soon.


	6. Team Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sora wakes up in a hotel room and learns a little more about what's going on. He might meet someone very interesting soon, and that person is going to have to explain a lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, I would like to thank ceceliatarleton for beta reading the beginning of this chapter. She's been a great help.

The first thing Sora hears when he wakes up is Kairi. “Come on, lazy bum. Wake up.” He shakes his head as he fully wakes up and looks at Kairi.

“You okay?” She asks as he looks at him. 

He nods. “I guess,” he says. 

She continues, “Those creatures that attacked you are after the Keyblade.” It was at this point he realized something was off. “But it’s your Heart that Heartless wants because you wield the Keyblade.” 

He blinks. “Kairi?” He asks, confused. 

“Kairi? I’m the great ninja Yuffie!” The Kairi look-alike says as light flashes in front of his eyes, and Kairi is now some brown-haired girl with a weird outfit. “I think you might have overdone it, Squall.” 

The man, who knocked him out, comes inside. “That’s Leon,” he tells her. 

Sora’s eyes drift over to the weapon on the ground next to Leon. “The Keyblade,” he says, mystified. 

“Yeah, we had to get it away from you to shake off those creatures,” she says as she walks over to Leon. “It turns out, that’s how they were tracking you.” 

Leon continues, “It was the only way to conceal your heart from them. But. It won’t work for long.” He picks up the Keyblade. “Still, hard to believe that you of all people are the chosen one.” Leon swings the Keyblade to his side, only for it to disappear into a flash of light. 

And appear in Sora’s hand. “Well, I suppose beggars can’t be choosers,” Leon says as he approaches Sora. 

“Why don’t you start making sense?!” Sora asks, annoyed at how vague they were being. “What’s going on here?” 

“You know how there are other worlds out there, other than your Island and this town?” 

Sora nods and Leon gives him a questioning stare. “That’s supposed to be a secret,” Leon brings up before he continues, “Anyway, they’ve been secret because they’ve never been connected.” 

“What do you mean? People have left my world and arrived in others, and we’ve had people come to my island too!” Sora tells him. 

Leon looks confused. “When did that happen?” 

“Eraqus arrived recently, and Kairi arrived a couple of years ago...I don’t know when Xehanort left. I’ll have to ask Eraqus.” Sora tells them. He doesn’t remember anyone named Xehanort even living on the Island, and Eraqus said Xehanort was only a little older than he was. 

Yuffie shrugs, “Well until the Heartless showed up most worlds weren’t connected.” 

“You guys keep saying Heartless, are you talking about those creatures that attacked me?” Sora asks them. 

Yuffie nods. “They’re attracted to the Darkness in people’s hearts.” 

“And everyone has Darkness within their heart,” Leon continues for her. 

Yuffie quickly changes the conversation, “Has your friend told you about someone named Ansem?” 

“No,” he tells her with a shake of his head. 

She couldn’t hide her disappointment. “He was studying the Heartless, and he recorded all of his findings in reports.” 

“The pages were scattered everywhere when Radiant Garden fell.” Leon says, “but that brings us back to you and your Keyblade. The Heartless are afraid of the Keyblade, and they will stop at nothing to destroy you.” 

Sora pouts at him, “I didn’t ask for this.” 

“The Keyblade chooses its master,” Yuffie tells him, cheerfully, “and it chose you.” 

“So, tough luck,” Leon adds gruffly as he leans against the wall. 

Sora covers his face with his hands. “What do I do?” He wishes that his friends were here. 

“Well, we have this chest here, and I’ve heard that the Keyblade has the power to unlock anything. You could practice on that.” 

Sora goes over to the chest and taps it with his Keyblade. It immediately opens, and he finds a drink inside. “What’s this?” 

“It’s called an elixir. It heals you and restores your mana,” Yuffie cheerfully tells him. 

“What’s mana?” 

“Remember how during our fight I threw a couple of fireballs at you,” Leon says. 

Sora nods before he glances at his chest in confusion, “how come I’m already healed?” 

“Aerith used a potion and a cure spell on you while you were unconscious.” Leon tells him, “Your Keyblade seems to prevent you from getting hurt and decreases the pain you feel.” 

“Oh,” Sora says as he taps his undamaged shirt, “So, how come my shirt’s in one piece?” 

Leon shrugs, “ask Aerith, she’s a miracle worker.” 

A heartless suddenly appears in the room, “Yuffie, go!” Leon yells as he grabs his sword and prevents the Heartless from following her. “Sora, let’s go!” Leon yells as he kicks the Heartless out of the room. 

Sora looks at him with disbelief as he jumps out the window after the Heartless. He shrugs before following Leon out. 

He lands outside near the water; he looks around and sees that they’re surrounded by the same Heartless that appeared earlier when that man died. “Don’t bother about the small fry.” Leon says as he destroys a Heartless, “Find the leader!” He yells as he destroys a Heartless. 

He runs off to the second district and Sora follows, “Do you know where the third district is?” Sora shakes his head and Leon points to a path just past a set of stairs, “Follow that path, it’ll take you to the third district. That’s where most of the Heartless came from.” 

Sora nods and he sprints only to be confronted by a group of Heartless, he hits the shadowy Heartless only for the armored one to scratch his arm. He staggers back and widely swings at it. 

The Heartless jumps back and Sora attacks the nearby shadow Heartless. Once all of the shadow Heartless are dead, he focuses on the armored one and then runs into the third district. 

He thinks he hears someone yelling but ignores it heads into the center of the district, he hears an explosion and turns to see a bipedal dog and duck flying towards him. 

He tries to dodge them but they land right on top of him. He hears them exclaim, “The key!” 

The earth starts to shake and the dog and duck get off him; they all watch helplessly as columns rise from the earth trapping them. Heartless surround them and Sora watches the duck unleash a fireball and the dog charges at the Heartless. 

The three of them make short work of the armored Heartless and soon enough it's just the three of them. 

Then out of nowhere a giant suit of floating armor made up of a torso, a helmet, and two arms and legs lands in front of them. 

He goes after its feet first hitting it with a combo before one of its arms hits him away. 

Its other arm goes to hit him but the dog blocks the attack while the duck unleashes another fireball at one of the hands. “Garsh, be careful.” The dog calls out. 

Sora nods and decides to target one of the hands; jumping into the air and hitting it a couple of times. He managed to parry the hands when they tried to attack him and got a couple more hits in. 

It was the duck that got the final hit in as he unleashed a fireball, with a yell of “Fire!” that caused the hand to disappear in a puff. 

With one of the hands gone, Sora focuses on the feet again, as he hits it the Heartless leaps into the air. “JUMP!” He yells as he sees it come down. 

The three of them jump right when it lands, the armored Heartless seemed stunned. They take this chance to land multiple hits on one of its feet. 

The Heartless tries to hit them with its remaining hand but Sora parries it buying the other two times to destroy one of the feet. 

Sora targets the Heartless’s remaining hand while the animal's target the remaining foot. Every time the Heartless tries to hit them with its hand Sora parries and every time it jumps, they jump right before it lands dodging the shock wave. 

Sora destroys its hand and starts whacking its foot, almost immediately destroying it. He backs up and watches as it starts spinning rapidly. He goes to hit it as it comes closer, but instead of stopping it, the Heartless is just bounced back. 

It keeps spinning until it hits the duck, knocking him out. Sora watches as the dog pulls out a potion and calls out “Here!” as he uses it on his friend, the duck wakes up and charges at the Heartless. 

The three of them wail on the Heartless when it's not spinning, and once it starts spinning Sora is pulled behind the dog by the duck and they wait in the corner as the dog blocks the spinning Heartless with its shield whenever it gets too close. 

After doing this twice, the duck somehow getting knocked out twice. Causing Sora and the dog to use another potion to wake him up. 

Eventually, though they manage to defeat the Heartless, and Sora watches with grim satisfaction as its head falls to the ground and a glowing heart appears from the Heartless to only disappear along with the Heartless itself. 

“Garsh, so you were the one that the King wanted us to find.” The dog says to him. 

Sora points to himself, “You were looking for me?” He asks. 

“They too, have been seeking the wielder of the Keyblade,” Leon tells him from out of nowhere. Yuffie standing right next to him nods. 

"Hey, why don’t you come with us?” The dog suggests, “We can go to other worlds on our vessel.” 

Sora sighs as he hangs his head, “I wonder if I can find the others...” he half asks them and half wonders to himself. 

“Of course.” The duck says, confidently. Sora looks right at them. 

The dog leans down next to the duck, “Are you sure?” tried to ask subtly, failing. 

“Who knows,” the duck says and he can’t help but droop into disappointment. “But we need him to come with us, to help us find the king.” 

As much as he wanted to be upset at being used, he couldn’t help but be sympathetic. 

Leon walks over, “Sora, go with them. You’ll be more likely to find your friends traveling out there than staying here.” 

“And don’t worry, if they show up here, we’ll keep an eye on them,” Yuffie adds. 

“I guess.” He agrees. 

“But you can’t come along looking like that. Understand?” The duck says, “No frowning” he says as he frowns, “no sad face. Okay?” 

The dog leans next to the duck, “Yeah, you gotta look funny, like us!” The duck shoves the dog away. 

“This boat runs on happy faces.” The duck tells him. 

_'How can I be happy if my friends are missing?’_ he wonders, “Happy?” He asks before he tries to make the silliest face ever. After a few moments of silence, he wonders if he messed up. 

Then the duck and dog start laughing, “That’s one funny face!” The dog says. 

“Okay, why not.” Sora tells them, “I’ll go with you guys.” 

The duck holds his hand out, “I’m Donald Duck,” 

“Name’s Goofy,” the dog, Goofy tells him as he also holds out his hand above Donald’s. 

Sora tells them, “I’m Sora,” 

“All for one,” Goofy says, Sora puts his hand on top of theirs. “One for all.” 

Sora couldn’t help but smile and the five of them make their way back to the first district. 

Sora sees a woman in the square talking to a man in black clothes. The closer he gets to them the more he notices that the man looks like him. But, how? 

The man notices them and his eyes widen as he looks at Sora’s face and then Keyblade. The man awkwardly smiles at him, “I’m Vanitas, what’s your name?” He asks Sora. 

“My name’s Sora, how come you look just like me?” He asks Vanitas. He looked like an older version of him but with yellow eyes and black hair. 

He vaguely notices Donald and Goofy are watching Vanitas warily. 

“I’m not completely sure,” Vanitas admits to him, “But, I think a long time ago, you helped someone very close to me; and with how we’re connected I took on your features.” 

Vanitas ruffle his hair. “If my math is right, you’re too young to remember it.” Sora pouts at him and Vanitas laughs. “Anyway, I have to ask who bequeathed a Keyblade to you?” 

“Bequeathed?” Sora asks, confused. “It just appeared out of nowhere when I was attacked by Heartless. Are you saying that someone could give you a Keyblade?” 

A confused expression appears on Vanitas’s face as he holds his hand out and a dark looking Keyblade appears in his hands. “This is Void Gear, my Keyblade. What’s your Keyblade?” 

Sora closes his eyes, as he tries to think of what he should call it. _‘Kingdom Key’_ A voice whispers in the back of his head, “Kingdom Key” He says and he couldn’t help but feel like that was correct. 

“That sounds familiar,” Vanitas mumbles, “well, anyway. What are you, planning kid?” 

Goofy walks up next to him, and Sora notices Vanitas jumps a little. “Garsh, we going to other worlds to look for the King and Sora’s friends.” 

“The King?” Vanitas asks confused, “wait, do you mean that mouse that showed up at the graveyard?” 

Donald quacks angrily, “Give his majesty some respect!” Vanitas just rolls eyes, 

“Graveyard?” Sora asks, confused. 

Vanitas gives Sora a sad glance, “The Keyblade graveyard, a long time ago there was a war between all the Keyblade wielders of old. Ten years ago, an old Keyblade Master named Xehanort started up another one with me against Master Vor’s students. 

He didn’t anticipate Master Vor taking a more hands-on approach of dragging me and Ventus off the battlefield and yelling at Aqua and Terra to return to the Land of Departure.” 

“Oh,” Sora says, thinking of how both of his moms probably would have done the same. “What are you doing here?” 

Vanitas gives him a sheepish smile, “I upset Ventus a little while ago, so I’m waiting here. He’s probably going to come this way once he calms down.” 

“What upset Ven so much?” Goofy asks. 

For the first time in this conversation, Vanitas looked serious, “Several of Ventus’s friends have gone missing, and so have the other Keyblade Masters. Aqua and Terra wanted to find out more before telling him.” 

“Hey!” Sora shouts as an idea comes to him, “How about we keep an eye out for Ventus’s missing friends and the Masters and you keep an eye out for my friends!” 

Vanitas chuckles and ruffles Sora’s hair again, “You don’t need to do that. Though any help is appreciated. Can you tell me what your friends look like so that I know who I’m looking for?” 

“Riku has silver hair and he has a bright yellow shirt and blue pants; Kairi has short red hair and she has this teardrop necklace with a white tank top and pink shorts.” Sora fires off rapidly, 

“Eraqus has black hair that’s pulled back making him look like a pineapple, and his outfits kinda like yours except he has a white jacket and lighter pants.” Sora finishes. 

Vanitas nods, “I’ll keep an eye out for them, keep yourself safe. Your friends wouldn’t want you to get hurt while you’re looking for them, right?” 

“Right!” Sora tells him and for the first time today, he felt like he’s getting closer to finding his friends. 

He turns around and finds Leon, Yuffie, and the woman talking amongst themselves. They stop talking and he notices a woman has a small pouch in her hand. “You should prepare for the journey ahead. We don’t know how far the Heartless has spread. The only good thing about that is that they drop Munny when defeated.” 

“Really?” Sora asks. 

Leon nods, “You were probably too busy to notice but whenever you defeat a Heartless a small cluster of Munny will drop.” 

“The shops here offer some great stuff that should help you, like potions and protective accessories,” Yuffie adds. 

The woman walks over and hands the pouch to him, “I’m Aerith, and this is from all of us.” She tells him, “And this is from Leon.” She adds as she gives him an Elixer as Leon looks away with a small blush. “The Munny pouch I just gave you will automatically put any Munny near you into it. In your adventures, you should find a way to increase its range.” 

“Good luck you guys!” 

“I hope you find your friends.” 

“Watch each other's backs and don’t give up, I’m sure you’ll find your friends.” 

The trio goes over to the café leaving Sora, Donald, and Goofy. “The gummi ship is just past the gate,” Donald says as he points to the gate. 

“The what?” Sora asks. 

“That’s our ship.” 

“Wait ‘til you see it!” Goofy tells him, excitedly. 

Donald jumps up, “Hold on.” Donald says a glowing orb flies from Donald’s hand and enters Sora’s chest. “Now you can use magic, too. That was a spell that lets you summon fire.” 

“Goofy, give him the other thing,” Donald commands Goofy. 

“What?” Goofy asks, and Sora has to force down a smile. 

Donald stomps his foot, “You know!” 

“Oh, yeah,” he says and another orb goes to Sora. He suddenly knows how to roll out of the way of attacks. 

Sora taps his foot. “Is that it? Let’s get going!” 

“Not ‘til we’re ready!” Donald says as he stomps the ground. 

“Excuse me, fellas,” a voice calls out from below them. A cricket jumps out onto his shoulder. 

“Jiminy cricket at your service,” The cricket, Jiminy introduces, “I’ll be documenting our journey in my journal.” 

Sora presents his index finger to Jiminy who shakes it. “It’s nice to meet you Jiminy.” 

“It’s nice to meet you too, Sora!” Jiminy tells him, “Say, I saw this blue symbol on the ground near the exit. I remember reading somewhere that if three people jump on it at the same time something amazing will happen.” 

The trio walk over to the door and spot the blue mark on the ground that Jiminy was talking about, they jump and a bunch of Munny pops out. He walks around and it all disappears. 

The three of them walk over to the item shop and buy a couple of potions. The ducklings are apparently Donald's nephews as they tell him that he doesn't get a discount. 

They end up going to Cid’s accessory shop and buying a fire ring that Sora immediately gives to Donald. 

Sora almost runs to the exit of Travers Town; he turns around and spots Vanitas talking to a blond-haired man. 

“What’s up Sora?” Donald asks, Sora ignores him as he tries to figure out why the blond-haired man is familiar. The two men talk before the blond pulls Vanitas in for a kiss. 

He decides he doesn’t want to stay any longer. He hopes his cheeks aren’t bright red as he runs out the door, leaving behind a confused Donald and Goofy. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys please leave and questions and concerns in the comments. If something doesn't make sense I'll try my best to explain it and hopefully, I'll have another chapter out soon.  
> I might have bitten off a little more than I could chew, but please bear with me, I'm doing my best.


	7. Travel Plans and Wonderland

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two friends reunite in wonderland, they follow a cat and try to protect a girl. Eraqus gives Sora a quick lesson and the Heartless finally gets a name.
> 
> Vor finds out about Sora while Vanitas and Ventus learn they are not subtle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I finally got this chapter done. I hope you all like it!

Sora looks at the wheel in confusion, “Why am I driving?” He yells back. 

“Donald likes to use the cannons and garsh, I’m not very good with direction,” Goofy tells him. 

“He got us loss three times on the way to Traverse Town!” Donald yells from the gun controls. 

As Sora drives towards the next world, he can’t help but let a smile grow on his face as he dodges rocks, Goofy called them asteroids and these strange rings. 

When they finally got to the next world Donald had looked relaxed after all the Heartless he shot down, and Goofy had been an excellent co-pilot. 

Landing on the world was strange, they slowly floated down this deep hole. Once they reached the ground. Sora and Donald landed on their feet while Goofy landed on his back. 

A white rabbit runs right past them, “Oh, my fur and whiskers! I’m late, I’m late, I’m late!” The rabbit looks at the pocket watch in his hand, “Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! I’m here, I should be there.” the rabbit huffs and puffs, “I’m late, I’m late, I’m late! The Queen. She'll have my head for sure!” The rabbit screams as he runs out of sight. 

Sora follows where the rabbit went, where he goes up to a closed door. He opens one door, only for two more to open right after it. Sora glances at it before going through the door. 

Barely catching the white rabbit go through a tiny door. He walks over to the tiny door and asks, “How did he get so small?” 

“No, you’re simply too big.” The doorknob on the door says. Sora jumps back in surprise. 

Donald quacks and then exclaims “It talks!” 

The doorknob yawns and then complains, “Must you be so loud? You woke me up.” 

“Good morning,” Goofy tells him. 

“Good night!” the Doorknob rudely snaps. “I need a bit more sleep.” 

“Wait!” Sora cries out, “What do we have to do to get small?” 

The Doorknob gives Sora an annoyed look, “Why don’t you try the bottle...” A poof is heard behind him. “Over there.” 

Behind Sora, there’s a table with two bottles on it and a chair. He walks over and looks at the bottle with a blue label. He puts it down and looks around the room to see a bed sticking out. 

He walks over to the bed and pushes it, causing it to go inside the wall and revealing a hole. He looks back at the table to see Donald taping his foot impatiently. “Alright, alright,” he tells him as he drinks the potion. 

He shrinks down and the three of them make their way into the hole that was revealed, inside there were a bunch of cards with weapons standing guard. The white rabbit runs up some stairs. 

Once he’s at the top he takes a few breaths before he blows a trumpet, “Court is now in session!” He yells. 

The girl gasps, “I’m on trial? But why?” 

The rabbit gasps, “Her Majesty, the Queen of Hearts, presiding!” The rabbit bows. 

“This girl is the culprit.” The Queen accuses, “There’s no doubt about it.” 

* * *

Eraqus watches the trial with a combination of horror and outrage. Alice hasn’t done anything wrong since she got here. 

“And the reason is...” The Queen says with a dramatic pause, “Because I say so, that’s why!” 

He couldn’t stand for this, he had to do something. _‘I hope no one I know is around to see this.’_ he thinks as he jumps down. “That’s so unfair!” Alice calls out. 

“Well, have you anything to say in your defense?” The Queen asks. 

Eraqus clears his throat, “May I interject, your Majesty?” He calls out, remembering Master Odin’s lessons on how to act around royalty. 

He also remembers Master Odin’s warnings on World Order, but there was something about this girl that told him he needed to do something.

“And who are you to interrupt my courtroom?” 

He hesitates, “I’m Eraqus, prince of Scala Ad Caleum. A kingdom far from here.” 

The Queen has a considering look on her face, “And what do you have to say in her defense?” More civilly now than before. 

“In my time here, Alice has shown no desire to harm anyone. There’s another culprit” Eraqus tells her. 

“If it's not the girl then who pray tell, is guilty?” The Queen of Hearts demands. 

“The Heartless, your Majesty. They are Creatures that target people’s hearts.” He informs her carefully. 

The cards murmur amongst themselves and the Queen slams her scepter into the wood a couple of times, “Order! Bring me evidence of these Heartless, and I shall consider letting the girl go.” 

“Of course.” He tells the Queen, he then whispers to Alice, “Be on your best behavior, she seems the type to execute someone for looking at her wrong.” 

The girl nods before the card soldier takes her to the cage next to the queen's podium, “Thank you.” She tells him. 

“So, Prince Eraqus; would you like some help?” A familiar voice says behind him. Eraqus wants to groan, he’s never going to hear the end of this. 

He turns around and sees Sora with a smug grin on his face, being followed by a duck and bipedal dog? “This is Donald and Goofy.” Sora introduces. 

“I would love some help, let’s take this conversation to the forest,” Eraqus tells him as he leads the group to the Lotus forest. 

“How much of that did you witness?” He immediately asks Sora once they’re all in the forest. It's at this point he notices a Keyblade in Sora’s hand, “And when did you get a Keyblade?” 

Sora waves his Keyblade in the air, “I got this when Destiny Island...anyway I heard all of that, when were you going to tell us you’re a prince?” 

“I am only a prince technically; Scala does not have royalty.” He tells him as he feels his face going red, “I only told her that so that she wouldn’t have my head chopped off for interrupting the trial.” 

Donald jumps and asks “So, you're not a prince?” at the same time Goofy asks, “What do you mean technically?” 

“I’ll explain later,” Eraqus tells them, flustered. “let’s focus on helping Alice right now,” Eraqus makes the mistake of glancing to his left and sees a familiar floating head. “AHH!” he yells as he jumps away from the Chesire Cat. “Why do you do that?!?” 

The Cat disappears again and reappears on the tree stump. “Do what?” The Cat says innocently, “Poor Alice, soon to lose her head and not guilty of a thing!” 

“Hey!” Sora shouts, “If you know who the culprit is, tell us!” 

“The Chesire Cat has all the answers—but doesn’t always tell.” The Chesire Cat says, standoffish. “The answer, the culprit, the cat all lie in Darkness.” 

The Cat disappears again, and Sora calls out “wait!” 

“They’ve already left the forest. I won’t tell which exit.” A brief pause, before the Cat continues, “There are four pieces of evidence in all. Three are a cinch to find. The fourth is tricky. Big reward if you find them all.” 

Once the Cat stops talking Donald asks, “Can we trust him?” 

The Chesire Cat appears out of nowhere again. “To trust or not to trust. I’ll trust you’ll decide.” And with that, the Cat disappears again. 

They all wait a few seconds, “I don’t think he’s coming back this time.” Eraqus says, “Do you want to check down here and I’ll check up on the ‘branches’?” Eraqus asks them. 

“Sure,” Sora tells him with a shrug, “Just be careful Prince Eraqus.” Eraqus groans as Sora runs off, he runs into one of the ‘rooms’, the friendly Heartless pops out and follows him up the mushrooms. 

He goes onto the branch that has an outragedly large acorn and spots a pink box on one of the lily pads. He jumps over to it and opens it, while the Heartless stays on the branch. 

He puts the antenna into his inventory. Then he goes back over to the hole in the tree trunk, he spots Sora talking to one of the flowers. _‘isn’t that the one that makes you grow?’_

He goes into the hole on the tree and somehow ends up falling onto a counter. The Heartless follows soon after with a high pitch yelp. He sees a pink box and opens it. A strange smell fills the air and he quickly closes the box. 

He puts it in his inventory and heads over to the hole in the wall, he looks at the snoring doorknob with confusion but just assumes it's just how this world is. “Hey, Eraqus!” Sora yells, Eraqus turns and sees Sora walking over from the other side of the oven. 

“How did you get over there?” Eraqus asks, to which Sora shrugs. “Did you get the rest of the clues?” The Heartless is suspiciously quiet. 

Sora nods but looks at Eraqus confused. “Where did you put yours? Donald and Goofy made the ones we found, disappear.” 

“We put it in our inventory?” Eraqus explained, and at Sora’s confused expression continued, “It's like a Munny pouch, but for items instead of Munny. It can hold a lot of items, but only so much of each item. If that makes sense.” 

Sora shrugs and Eraqus figured it was good enough. “Let's prove Alice’s innocence!” 

They all run over to the Queen’s Garden and talk to the red card soldier in front of the Queen. “We’re ready to present our evidence!” 

“Very well, Counsel, set up to the podium.” the card says as two other Cards lead Sora, Donald, and Goofy. 

“Show me what you have found.” The Queen demands, they put all four boxes in front of the podium. “Well, that’s certainly a lot of evidence, but I'm still not impressed. Cards!” She yells, “Bring out my evidence!” 

A fifth box appears in front of them. “Checking all five boxes would only be a waste of time, choose the one you wish to present.” 

Eraqus’s face falls, “are you sure?” he asks as the Heartless whines. 

“You dare object? Then you will lose your head! Now, choose! One box!” the Queen yells. 

He goes over to one of the boxes and chooses one of them. “Are you sure? No second chances!” 

“I’m sure,” he lies, he figures the odds were in his favor. He returns to the podium and notices the Heartless is quietly whimpering. 

“Now we shall see who the real culprit is!” Queen of Hearts shouts, the box opens and an image of Donald, Goofy, and Sora appear. 

Eraqus wants to groan as individual cages trap Sora, Donald, and Goofy. “This has to be a mistake!” he calls out. 

“You're all guilty! Seize them!” she yells at them. The entire courtroom changes, with everything including the exits, disappearing. 

Eraqus summons his Keyblade and faces the cards behind him. The Heartless starts growling at the cards. 

**“Remember, we have to respect the world order,”** **Xehanort** **says, he has a grim look in his eyes as he looks into the trial area.**

**The card soldiers are stacked on top of each other, the group approaches menacingly.**

Eraqus blinks as the Queen of Hearts raises her scepter, “Cards! If they touch the tower, you lose your heads!” 

He jumps back as the cards thrust their spears at him, he goes over to Sora’s cage first. He hears the Heartless growl and hit one of the cards. 

The card slowly falls to the ground unconscious and Eraqus starts to believe that maybe not all Heartless is bad. 

Sora is already hitting his cage with his Keyblade, Eraqus lands two hits before one of the red cards thrust his spear and slice open his cheek. 

He knocks the card, a red ace of hearts, away just as Sora destroys his prison. “Go get Donald! I’ll get Goofy!” he yells as he runs over to Goofy’s prison. 

Eraqus runs over to Donald’s prison while quickly unleashing a heal spell and manages to get two hits in before Donald yells, “Fire!” Destroying the prison at the same time he hears Goofy’s prison being destroyed. 

“Destroy the tower!” he yells to the others, “It should release Alice!” 

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees another card guard swinging his spear at him. Before it could get too close the spear is knocked out of the hands of the guard by the Heartless. 

_'Maybe this one is ok,'_ he thinks as he hits the card with a Thundara spell. It hits a couple more cards too, knocking them all out. 

The Queen starts shouting, “Stop them, you fools!” and Eraqus makes a beeline to the tower hitting its gears causing the cage to lower. Sora joins in on another gear while Donald and Goofy keep the Cards away from them. 

Once the gears break Sora runs up to the Queen and hits her, knocking her over and exposing her heart-patterned bloomers. The Cards freeze out of fear and they destroy the last gear. 

Eraqus continues to attack the tower, “Fira!” he yells before he hears a yelp behind him. 

He turns around, the Heartless that has been protecting him is on the ground, with a card standing over it. 

He dashes over to it and knocks the card away, gently picking it up just as Sora destroys the tower. 

They all watch the current of Alice’s cage be pulled back to reveal that Alice is gone. Donald exclaims, “She must’ve gotten kidnapped while we were fighting.” 

“You fools!” the Queen screams, “Find the one who’s behind this! I don’t care how!” 

Eraqus ignores the chaos and instead uses a cure spell on the Heartless, “Eraqus, is that a Heartless?” Sora asks. 

“Yeah, it...it protected me in the fight, and it hasn’t tried to hurt me once. It's unlike anything Master Odin told me.” Eraqus tells him as the healing spell works its magic and the Heartless jumps up and starts nuzzling him. 

“Who?” Sora asks as he bends down to pet the Heartless. 

Eraqus stands up and heads to the Lotus Forest, “Master Odin, he’s the one who taught me how to use my Keyblade.” Eraqus tells him as he summons his Keyblade, “This is a training Keyblade, I haven’t gotten my own personal Keyblade yet.” 

“I am so confused,” Sora confesses, and Eraqus laughs, “Hey! Don't laugh at me!” 

“I’ve been learning about this stuff for years, don’t worry if it's confusing. It was for me at first too!” Eraqus tells him cheerfully as they enter the Lotus Forest. 

A bolder is launched out of a flower and lands off to the side, startling the trio. The Chesire Cat appears on top of it. 

“Have you seen Alice?” Sora asks the cat. The Heartless creeps behind the cat. 

“Alice no. Shadows, yes!” the Chesire Cat tells them, “But you won’t find them here.” 

“What do you mean?” Eraqus asks the Cat as the friendly Heartless prepares to pounce. 

The cat vanishes and appears right next to Eraqus, Eraqus sees the Heartless slump down, disappointed. “Step deeper into the forest to the deserted garden. You might find answers in the upside-down room!” the cat vanishes and they head deeper into the forest. 

“Why can’t that cat talk normally?” Eraqus complains as the Heartless runs between his legs. 

Sora laughs and they enter the tea party garden room, there are a strange painting and sign right above a table with several chairs. The Heartless immediately starts running around the room. 

Eraqus spots a couple of Treasure chests, “Hey, Sora. Boost me.” Sora cups his hands and boosts Eraqus onto the top of the hedge to the right of the table. He finds a Mythril. 

“Huh,” he mutters to himself. He takes a few steps back and tries to jump the gap to the hedge near the entrance, he barely manages to catch the ledge and pull himself up. 

He opens the chest and finds puppies? They bark at him and then disappear into a flash of light. He opens up another chest and finds some kind of block. “Hey, Sora!” he yells as he jumps down. 

The Heartless yips and jumps onto his shoulder, somehow hanging on. He grabs it and holds it in his arms. 

“What?” Sora asks as the three of them sit in various chairs. The Hatter and Hare’s painted expressions change to ones of joy and happiness. 

Eraqus laughs as Sora, Donald, and Goofy are flung from their seats. “I-ha-found some puppies in a chest.” 

“Wait? Really?” 

“Yep, you don’t know anything?” 

“Nope.” Sora says, emphasizing the p. “I’ll ask Leon when we go back to Traverse Town.” 

He opens the door and gestures for Sora to go through the door. Eraqus follows him and he realizes he’s in that room with the doorknob. Only on the walls. 

“What is this world?” Eraqus cries out in exasperation and the Heartless yips in agreement. 

The Chesire cat appears in front of them, “They’re hiding somewhere. And the momeraths outgrabe. Want to find the shadows? Try turning on the light.” 

Eraqus and Sora jump over to both of the lamps. Eraqus shifts the Heartless into one arm and they turn them on simultaneously. 

Goofy and Donald stand on the lookout for Heartless, ‘ _It's_ _strange, this Heartless is the only one I've seen in this world.’_

“All the lights are on.” the Chesire cat tells them as he appears. “You’ll see the shadows soon. They’ll arise in this room, but somewhere else. The shadows might go after that doorknob, too.” 

Eraqus bites his lip, “Why would they go after the doorknob?” he asks out loud. 

“Who knows,” Donald says. 

“Hmm,” they hear Goofy hum, “Maybe it has something important?” 

“Well, regardless I guess it would make sense to listen to the cat. He hasn’t been wrong yet.” Sora concludes as they start heading back the way they came. 

Once they get back into the Lotus Forest, they all spot a bunch of white mushroom heartless. Eraqus puts the Heartless on the ground. 

Eraqus summons his Keyblade and runs up to one, about to attack it before the fox Heartless yanks at his pant leg. He looks at the fox Heartless before looking back at the mushroom Heartless. 

The mushroom Heartless looks at him sideways, before it starts fanning itself. Eraqus watches it in disbelief, and then it starts shivering. After a couple more seconds a light appears above its head. 

“Is it doing charades?” Eraqus asks the others, noticing the incredulous look on their faces as well. Once the Heartless starts shivering again, Eraqus use Fire on it. 

After the fire spell hits it, it starts jumping. It then starts to shiver again and Eraqus hits it with another fire spell. It repeats its previous reaction and then the light appears above its head. 

Eraqus looks at it confused and after a couple of seconds the Heartless starts shivering again, Eraqus hits it one last time and it jumps again before reaching somewhere on its side and throwing a bunch of mana spheres and an object. 

It disappears, and Eraqus picks up the object. “Any idea what this is?” Eraqus asks them. 

Donald comes barging over, “That’s a Fire Arts.” 

“A Fire Arts?” Eraqus asks. 

“It’s proof of mastery over fire,” Donald explains, “I don’t know how that Heartless got it.” 

Eraqus looks at it amused and puts it in his inventory. “maybe it will be useful later.” 

They walk through the forest, passing the other Heartless, and enter the Queen's Garden. They go past the guards and Eraqus notices that one of them is still missing. 

“Hey,” he asks one of them, “What happened to the Red Ace of Hearts?” 

The card soldier shrugs, “He just disappeared. We haven’t seen any sign of him. He’ll probably be back soon.” 

Sora at this point starts yanking his arm towards the Bizarre room, Eraqus rolls his eyes. “I guess I should be glad you can’t lift me, or you would be carrying me over your shoulder” 

Sora laughs, “Riku might, it's way easier for me to just yank people.” Eraqus laughs, _‘Islanders are ridiculous’_ he thinks as they enter the Bizarre room. 

They look around as they enter and the Chesire cat appears on the table, “You’ll have a better view from up here!” 

Sora, Donald, and Goofy climb up. Eraqus initially goes to follow them but is instead meet with the Heartless yanking him towards the oven. He goes inside it and spots a green symbol on the ground. 

“The shadows should be here soon.” Eraqus hears the Chesire Cat say, and he turns around only for there to be a barrier “Are you prepared for the worst? If not, too bad!” 

He points upward, and a Trickmaster Heartless appears. “Guys!” Eraqus yells as he tries to break the barrier keeping him away. 

It repeals all his attacks and the fox Heartless whimpers. “I can’t get out, that Heartless is called a Trickmaster, it will set its batons on fire and send fireballs at you. You can put out the fire with a blizzard spell and its weak point is high on its chest!” he yells. 

“Thanks!” Sora yells as he dodges the Trickmaster’s attacks. 

Eraqus tries to dispel the barrier using his Keyblade only for it to fail. He almost gives up before he focuses on the barrier. 

It's made from Darkness, Darkness is weak to Light, so in theory. He concentrates all his mana into a holy spell. 

**“The rule that Light is right and Darkness is wrong just doesn’t hold true,”** **Xehanort** **says.**

A bright light blinds his vision as he hears shouts from his friends. He hears something break and runs forward. 

As soon as his vision clears, he sees the Trickmaster lowers its arms and falls to the ground. It attempts to stand but crashes to the ground, its arms laying at its side. 

A large heart floats of its torso and it disappears. 

“What a racket.” The Doorknob complains with another yawn, “How’s a doorknob to get any sleep.” 

It yawns again, and Eraqus’s eyes blur a little. He leans against the chair, and he sees the friendly Heartless from earlier pop out. It must have hide before he used the spell. 

He tries to blink the blurriness away but fails. He slowly lowers himself to the ground and he vaguely notices the Chesire Cat watching him worriedly. “Be careful not to shine so bright, you might find yourself in for a fright.” 

“Eraqus!” He hears Sora shout; his vision finally stops blurring and he sees Sora run over him with Donald and Goofy on his heels. “Are you ok?” 

Eraqus nods and mostly succeeds in standing, “I think I used too much mana in that attack.” 

“What was that?” Sora asks. 

“A light spell called Holy, it takes a lot of mana normally and I overcharged it.” Eraqus tells him, “I’m definitely not doing that again.” 

He notices Donald and Goofy sharing a worried look, Donald says “We should head to the gummy ship.” 

“Yeah, it's been a rough day and you should probably get some rest.” Goofy adds. 

Eraqus feels exhaustion hit him as the friendly Heartless rubs against him, “You’re going to be following us, aren’t you?” He asks it. 

The Heartless yips, and Donald groans. “We’re going to have to deal with that?” 

“I should probably name you,” he tells it, ignoring Donald. “How about Kiyo?” 

It yips again and Eraqus feels a small smile grow on his face as Donald yells, “Don’t name it!” 

“Well, garsh. It’s nice to meet you Kiyo.” 

Sora laughs, “If you're trying to keep Eraqus out of trouble, you’ll have your work cut out for you.” 

“Don’t even, you’re just as bad,” Eraqus tells him as he shakily stands up. Sora jumps up the Table and soon enough, Eraqus sees a giant Sora holding a potion to him. 

He drinks it and watches the world change as he gets bigger. Sora then hands it to Donald and Goofy. 

Once all of them are big they go into the doorway with multiple doors. Once they reach an area that looked like the bottom of a big hole, Donald pulls out this gray rectangle thing with a red button on it. 

Donald presses the button and Eraqus feels light before he a flash, and he’s looking at Wonderland. “We’re in the Ocean Between?” Eraqus asks. 

“Yep, this here gummy ship is made to keep us safe as we travel, since we can’t use the Lanes Between,” Goofy tells him. 

Sora has a wicked smile as he says, “Now, Prince Eraqus. Explain how you are and aren’t a prince.” 

_‘I was hoping he would forget about that.’_ Eraqus thinks before chuckling, Kiyo jumps into his arms. “In Scala, there are people called Blue Bloods,” Eraqus explains. 

“These Blue Bloods are descended from Keyblade wielders of old. My grandfather was Master Brain, one of the founders of Scala after Daybreak Town was destroyed. So, most people call Prince Eraqus back home.” The more he talked the redder his face becomes. 

Sora didn’t know what mercy was, “So, you are a prince?” 

“No!” Eraqus shouts and the others laugh at him, “We aren’t telling Riku!” 

Sora gives him a cheeky smile as he goes into the rooms in the ship, and lays down on one of the beds, “Whatever you say, your highness.” 

“Ugh, you’re the worse,” Eraqus tells him as he tries to go to sleep. 

* * *

Land of Departure: 

Ventus was confused as Vanitas charged into their home. “Vanitas, what’s going on?” 

“There’s something that’s been bugging me. I have to ask Master Vor.” he tells his boyfriend as Master Vor comes into view, “Master!” 

“What is it Vanitas?” she asks him concerned. 

“Something is going on and I feel like Xehanort has something to do with it.” Vanitas says as he begins to pace, “Worlds have been falling into darkness, Princesses of Light have been disappearing, and then there’s a kid who's running around with a Keyblade looking for his friends.” 

Master Vor’s eyes narrow at the last bit and Ventus feels like he’s missing something, “Why didn’t you bring the kid here?” He asks. 

“I don’t exactly carry a Lanes Blanket on me. That’s Aqua and Terra. I wouldn’t have been able to bring the kid with me safely.” Vanitas tells them, “Besides, the kid already had a ride.” 

Master Vor looked like she was in deep thought, “Did the boy tell you the name of his Keyblade?” 

“Yeah, he said it was the Kingdom Key,” Vanitas tells her. 

“The Kingdom Key!” Ventus shouts, “The Keyblade that can lock Keyholes?” 

Vanitas is quiet, “Shit, that’s why it sounded familiar,” Vanitas says. 

“Ventus, please calm down. Vanitas, can you please tell me about the boy’s missing friends.” Vor tells them. 

Vanitas shrugs, “Yeah, so there’s three kids. Riku, Kairi, and Eraqus. They’re...Master?” Vanitas trails off at the shocked look on Vor’s face. 

“Eraqus?” she asks with disbelief. “Are you sure that’s one of their names?” 

Vanitas nods and Ventus asks, “What’s wrong Master?” 

“Vanitas, please describe him” she begs. 

“He was described with black hair pulled back, apparently it makes him look like a pineapple or something, with a similar outfit to mine except with a white jacket,” Vanitas tells her. 

Master Vor starts to shake, “That is not possible,” she mutters, “He died years ago. He couldn’t be...It's been fifty years.” 

“What? Master do you know him?” Ventus asks in shock as he grabs a chair for her to sit in. 

She shakily nods her head, “If this is the Eraqus I think he is, then he was one of my classmates. He was the glue that held us together.” 

“What happened?” Ventus asks. 

“Master Odin had sent us to look for some missing upperclassmen who have gone missing. At one-point Eraqus and Xehanort get into an argument over Light and Darkness. As a result, they decided not to group. 

Hermod and I went with Eraqus. While Bragi and Urd went with Xehanort. I don’t remember exactly what happened but we were attacked by a powerful Heartless. We were defeated and Eraqus was the only one conscious. He managed to activate our Keyblade Armor and drag us back to Scala. I woke up a couple of days after,” Master Vor sobs, “I asked Xehanort where Eraqus was, and he started sobbing. Eraqus had managed to drag us exactly where Xehanort’s group was, before collapsing in Xehanort’s arms and disappearing.” 

Ventus gives her a hug, “Is that why you chased after me when I left. Because you didn’t want what happened to Eraqus to happen to me?” 

Master Vor nods, “Xehanort blamed himself, he believed that if he was with Eraqus. He wouldn’t have died. And without Eraqus we all just drifted apart.” 

“I don’t get it, you said that this Eraqus was the glue for your group. But, why would XEHANORT care so much more?” Vanitas asks. 

Vor gives the two of them a bittersweet smile, “Because Eraqus was Xehanort’s boyfriend, and even though those two would occasionally fight. Xehanort adored Eraqus and Eraqus adored Xehanort.” 

“Oh,” Ventus rubs the back of his neck, “I would never have figured.” 

Master Vor laughs, “Well, Baldr and I did need to lock them in the closet to admit it.” 

“What?” Vanitas says, a flood unversed popping out and jumps on Ventus. 

She nods, “Those two were in denial, so we locked them in a closet until they admitted their feelings. I’m glad that such measures weren’t necessary for you four.” 

“Ah,” Ventus says, lost at words his face slowly turning red. “You noticed.” 

She gives them a hurt look, “I am not blind. I have noticed you and Vanitas sneaking off. Just as much as I have noticed Terra and Aqua.” 

“And you have no objections?” Vanitas asks. 

“I think its sweet,” Vor admits, “I might not feel attraction, but I’m glad my students have found someone to love.” 

Both men turn redder, “I can’t believe we’re Keyblade Masters, but you still make us feel like students.” 

“Well, I’m sure when you eventually have students, they’ll feel the same.” Vor tells them as she stands up, “Vanitas, Ventus. I need you two to stay here.” 

“What? Why?” Ventus asks. 

Vor leads them outside, “I need you two to tell Terra and Aqua about what you learned in Traverse Town,” 

“What are you going to do?” Vanitas asks. 

“I’m going to visit an old friend; he’ll want to hear this too.” Vor looks to the sky, “And after I see him. I’m going to look for Eraqus.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I made up the whole Lanes Blanket. I figured they had to have some way to transport people through the Lanes Between, so I made it a blanket. 
> 
> Anyway, please comment on your questions or concerns. If you just want to talk about the fic. I love comments and I promise I don't bite. The next chapter might come, I have some idea on what to do with it.


	8. Earth and Water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eraqus and Sora meet/remeet Aqua and Terra, Aqua and Terra get more of the situation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is mostly exposition and some world building. I did my best in this chapter, I'm sorry if it's not as good as usual.

Eraqus opens his eyes and doesn’t recognize where he is, he looks at the foot of his bed and spots Kiyo. “Hey,” he softly calls out. 

Kiyo energetically gets up and sprints across the bed to him, he starts petting it and hears the door open. 

“Oh, your finally awake,” A young woman says as she comes in. 

“Yeah, where am I?” Eraqus asks her as she holds her hand to his forehead. 

“I’m Aerith,” she introduces, a look of concern appears on her face. “Did you overcharge a light spell recently?” 

He tilts his head, “Yeah, why?” 

“Using light magic too much can cause a lot of stress on your heart. Especially if you overcharge a light spell,” she explains and Eraqus couldn’t believe what he was hearing. 

“I don’t understand, I thought light...” Eraqus trails off as Aerith gives him a comforting pat. 

“It's something that was discovered by Ansem the Wise a couple of years ago when he was researching the Heartless. Light magic is more effective against the Heartless, it also leaves someone more subjectable to the Darkness or at the risk of shattering their own Heart.” Eraqus couldn’t believe what he was hearing, all his life he was told light was good. 

Eraqus couldn’t stop himself from shaking his head and Kiyo whines, “Master Odin always said,” 

“He might not have known,” Aerith reassures him, “It's not well-known information.” 

The door opens again and a familiar brown hair missile collides into his side, “Eraqus, are you ok?” 

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” Eraqus asks him. 

“Your crying Era,” Sora tells him sadly. 

Eraqus rubs his cheek and finds tears on his hand, “Oh.” 

“Try not to use too much light magic at once, you’ll be fine as long as you don’t use it too often.” Aerith tells him before turning to Sora, “Check his eyes occasionally. His eyes will start to turn a lighter shade if he’s been using it too often.” 

Sora nods and Eraqus pouts, “I don’t need a babysitter,” he complains. 

Aerith and Sora both give him looks of disbelief, “Anyway,” Eraqus says, “We found some puppies in a chest?” 

“Oh, the dalmatian puppies!” Aerith exclaims with delight, “They got scattered when their worlds were lost, I don’t know why they’re in a chest.” She trails off the end as a look of confusion washes over her face. 

Eraqus shrugs, “Magic?” he suggests, the other two shrug and agree. “Sora was talking about a man named Leon earlier?” 

“Yeah, he’s off training right now in the underground cavern. I wouldn’t bug him right now,” she tells them. 

“How did we get here?” Eraqus asks. 

Sora shrugs while Aerith groans, “Donald and Goofy brought both of you hereafter you got back from Wonderland.” 

“Oh, that was nice of them.” Eraqus mentions, “Where are they?” 

Sora piped up, “Donald mentioned something about his nephews, so they’re probably at the items shop.” 

“Huh, wanna go exploring?” Eraqus suggest and a mischievous grin spreads on Sora’s face. 

The two boys run out of the room while Aerith calls out, “Wait!” 

* * *

The duo enters district three and Eraqus is suspicious that there’s no Heartless. “Did you get rid of all the Heartless before we got here?” 

“No,” Sora cheerfully tells him, “Do you think they’re scared of Kiyo?” 

“That makes sense,” Eraqus tells Sora as he bends down to pet Kiyo, he turns and notices exposed wires. “Hey, what’s up with that?” 

He hears Sora hum out; I don’t know. He notices there’s a sideways thunderbolt above the wires. “Back up!” He yells out as he uses a thunder spell on the wires. 

He jumps back when after his spell hits a current of electricity can be seen running between the two wires. “Cool!” Sora shouts as the electricity lights up the district. “How did you know that would work?” 

“I didn’t,” Eraqus admits, “I was curious to see what would happen.” 

**Vor looks at them with cheeky amusement, “You guys are both curious, end of the story.”**

Eraqus groans, “What’s wrong?” Sora asks him. 

“I keep getting these...I don’t know, flashbacks of certain events but they’re all...” he trails off. 

“Confusing?” Sora guesses. 

Eraqus shakes his head. “No... well yes and no. It's more disconnected...like I’m missing pieces of a puzzle.” 

Sora opens his mouth to say something but is interrupted by someone using the Lanes Between, two armored figures walk out of the resulting portal. 

Sora stares at them in disbelief as Eraqus waves, “Hi, uh who are you?” 

“I’m Terra,” The larger of the two people introduce, he dismisses his armor and reveals a tall tanned man with brown hair. He was wearing similar clothes to Eraqus but a different color scheme. 

The other figure seems to focus on Sora, they dismiss their armor to reveal a blue-haired fair-skinned woman, “Sora? What are you doing here?” She asks, and a look of surprise flashes across Terra’s face. 

“I’m, wait your that woman from ten years ago.” Sora realizes. 

The woman kneels in front of Sora, “My name is Aqua. I’m surprised you remember me. Where is Riku?” 

“Destiny Islands fell to darkness, the only people I’ve seen from there is Sora,” Eraqus tells her. “We’re looking for Riku and Kairi.” 

“They’re missing?” Aqua asks, before shaking her head. “I’m sorry, who are you?” 

Eraqus nervously laughs, “My name’s Eraqus. Are you from Scala Ad Caleum?” 

“No,” They both say. 

Aqua continues. “We’re from the Land of Departure.” 

“Oh, I know that World! I wasn’t aware someone took over the stewardship. Are you Masters or are you still just wielders?” 

Terra gives Eraqus a big grin, “We took our exams around ten years ago.” 

“That’s amazing! Master Odin told us it will just be a couple of years before my class can take our exams.” Eraqus tells him, Terra gets a confused expression on his face. 

Instead of Terra asking a question, Sora did, “We have to take an exam?” 

“Not to use a Keyblade, but if we want to teach students or use certain techniques, we have to earn the rank of Master,” Eraqus explains. “For example, I use a training Keyblade because I can’t perform a Dive into Heart without a master present.” 

“Well,” Aqua says, “You can. I assume that Sora accidentally performed a Dive into Heart to get his Keyblade. It's just more dangerous because if something goes wrong your heart could shatter.” 

“Oh,” Eraqus says, “Master just said we couldn’t without a Master watching over us.” Eraqus glances at Aqua with hope. 

* * *

Aqua laughs, “Terra, can you?” She asks and Sora feels like he’s missing something. 

“Yeah, sure.” He tells her, “Hey, Sora. Want to help keep watch?” 

Sora looks at Terra confused as Aqua and Eraqus sit on the ground. “Why? The Heartless haven’t been showing up.” 

“Really? Terra asks confused. 

Sora nods, “Yeah, ever since we meet up with Eraqus. Most Heartless haven’t been showing up,” Sora looks around confused, “We figured it's because of Kiyo. Where did they go?” 

“Who is-” Terra starts to ask before he’s interrupted by a yip. Kiyo jumps down from the balcony onto Sora’s head. “Is that a Heartless?” 

Sora nods, “Yeah, it's really weird.” Sora says as Kiyo goes over to where Eraqus is sitting and squirms its way into his lap. “It seems to like Eraqus.” 

“Well as long as it's not causing any harm...” Terra trails off as it cutely yawns and curls up. “I’ll have to ask Master Vor about friendly Heartless.” 

Sora shrugs, “So far we’ve seen two types of friendly Heartless, whatever Kiyo is and then white mushroom Heartless that drop Magic Arts.” 

“How did Heartless get Magic Arts?” Terra asks confused, “You know what, I don’t want to know.” 

Sora smiles before he tells Terra, “Riku told us about you.” 

“Really?” Terra asks. 

Sora nods, “Yeah, he told us that you had a Keyblade. I’m sure there’s more. But he didn’t tell us.” 

“I planned on coming back after the fight,” Terra admits, “Riku had potential so I went through with the Keyblade Inheritance Ceremony.” 

“The Keyblade Inheritance Ceremony?” Sora asks. 

“It's how we pass on the Keyblade to others.” 

Sora is quiet, “So, Riku will get one too?” 

Terra shrugs, “It's possible, he’ll either need a training Keyblade or go through a Dive into Heart like Eraqus is.” 

“Is it all that dangerous?” Sora asks as Eraqus lifts his right hand out as if he was grasping something. 

A light flash and a Keyblade appears in Eraqus’s hand.

“Oh, they’re already done,” Terra says as Aqua opens her eyes. 

Eraqus immediately looks down at Kiyo, “Huh, well hello.” He says as he pets Kiyo’s head. 

“Eraqus,” Aqua says and Sora sees tears roll down his face. 

Sora hug tackles Eraqus, “I’m not going to say it's ok, but I will try to help make things better.” 

Eraqus sniffles, “Thanks, I’m good. I just didn’t expect...” 

“What happened?” Sora asks Aqua. 

“A Dive into Heart takes you to a stain glass representation of your heart, and on the stained glass you will see yourself and your close friends,” Aqua explains. 

Sora has a sinking feeling in his stomach and Eraqus sobs. “Some of his friends are missing, aren’t they?” 

“Yes,” Aqua confirms as Terra kneels next to the two boys and pats Eraqus on the shoulder. 

“I’m sure they’re ok,” Terra reassures him, “There’s probably something else going on.” 

Suddenly, they hear a loud quack. “SORA! ERAQUS!” They hear Donald yell as he approaches with Goofy, “Why did...” 

“Well, howdy Aqua, Terra.” Goofy greets as Donald quiets down at the sight of the two Keyblade Masters. “What are you two doing here?” 

“We’re looking for people, some of our friends have disappeared alongside their world,” Aqua explains. 

“Do you need help?” Eraqus offers and Aqua gives him a sweet smile. Donald looks like he wants to say something, but he glances at Terra and doesn’t say anything. 

“We’re looking for people, some of our friends have disappeared alongside their world,” Aqua explains. 

“Do you need help? We’re already looking for our friends.” Eraqus offers and Aqua gives him a sweet smile. 

“No, I would rather take you and Sora to the Land of Departure to make sure you're safe but something tells me you two would leave the first chance you get.” 

Goofy steps in at this point, “Garsh, we need Sora’s help to find the King.” 

“King Mickey is missing?” Aqua says while Terra asks, “Why do you need Sora?” 

Eraqus and Sora shrug, so Sora summons his Keyblade. Aqua looks faint, “That’s the Kingdom Key of Light.” 

“Oh,” Eraqus mumbles as he eyes Sora’s Keyblade, “I wish I didn’t know that now.” 

Sora looks at the two now paler Masters and Eraqus confused. “What’s wrong?” 

“It's a World Keyblade, it’s the only Keyblade that can close World Keyholes and when used with the Kingdom Key of Darkness it can close the Door to Darkness,” Aqua explains. 

Sora blinks, “So, this is an important Keyblade.” 

“It's also a bad omen.” Terra bluntly states, “Legends say the only reason why it would choose someone, is because the Door to Darkness will be opened soon.” 

“Terra, don’t scare them.” Aqua chastise, “Don’t worry too much about that. It’s just a legend.” 

Eraqus nervously laughs, “My Grandfather used to tell me that story when I was little.” 

“Why would your Grandfather tell you that legend when your little?” Sora asks. 

Eraqus shrugs, “He thought it was important for me to know, I guess. He died not long after.” 

“How’d he die?” Sora thoughtlessly asks and the others wince at the blunt question. 

Eraqus shakes his head, before he bites his lip, “I don’t want to talk about it...but, you deserve-” 

“I don’t deserve anything.” Sora snaps, “If you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to.” 

Eraqus smiles at Sora, “And that is why I should tell you.” Eraqus takes a deep breath. “My Grandfather was Master Brain, one of the founders of Scala. But he was also a Keyblade wielder like I am. And when I was little, he would still fight Heartless. 

One day he went out and didn’t come back. I was seven, and that’s old enough to stay home alone. I was alone for a week before we all realized that my Grandfather wasn’t coming back.” 

“Eraqus,” Sora says in a hushed tone. 

Eraqus smiles brightly at Sora with eyes full of sorrow. “I would joke that hating Darkness is in my blood.” Sora vaguely notices Terra stiffen. “But maybe Darkness isn’t as bad as I thought it was.” 

“Well,” Terra says nervously, “If we’re going to work together, there’s something you should know.” 

“Let me guess, you have so much Darkness you channel it?” Eraqus guesses and Terra nods. “Oh,” Eraqus says, stunned. “I wasn’t aware that was possible, I thought that was just a theory.” 

“Really? Why is that so surprising?” Sora asks. 

Eraqus shrugs, “There were a couple of studies when Scala was first founded. All the participants fell to Darkness long before they were able to control it.” 

Terra winces, “I was lucky my friends had my back.” Eraqus smiles at him. 

“It sounds like you have some fantastic friends then.” Eraqus says before he asks Donald and Goofy, “So, what have you two been whispering about?” 

Donald and Goofy freeze, “Er, garsh. We were talking about where we’re going next.” 

“We didn’t want to interrupt, it seemed...” Donald pauses, “Private.” 

Eraqus nods, “So, where are we going.” 

“We visited Cid, and he estimates we’re either heading towards a World called the Olympus or Deep Jungle.” Goofy tells them, and a thought pops into Eraqus’s head. 

“How does the whole World name thing work, Master never really explained it.” 

Aqua steps in, “So, how it works is that each world has a name that the people of the world resonate with. As such, they usually call the area the world name. For example, Destiny Islands is a world made up of an island chain called Destiny Islands.” 

“So, people just naturally call their World by their world name? Is that how when Eraqus asked me, what World we were in.” Sora starts. 

Terra finishes Sora’s sentence, “You were able to tell him, even people who aren’t completely aware of the World Order would have been able to answer....” Terra takes a moment to add, “Don’t do that unless you know they know about other worlds.” 

“So, are they coming on the gummy ship, or,” Eraqus asks the others. 

“NO!” Donald yells, “There’s no room!” 

Eraqus narrows his eyes at Donald, “Then what exactly is the plan for when we find our friends.” 

“We’ll the King probably has the Star Shard to get around.” Goofy tells them. 

“But, what about Kairi and Riku?” Sora yells and Aqua starts whispering with Terra. 

They watched the two Keyblade Master pull out blankets, “So, we can take them. We have enough Lane Blankets for them.” 

“Lanes Blankets?” Sora asks. 

Eraqus nods, “It's dangerous to go through the Lanes Between without any protection. The Lanes Blankets protect you if you don’t have Keyblade Armor.” 

“Why didn’t you use the Lanes Between?” 

“I would have, but my armor isn’t working.” 

They all start walking to the first district, “After we find your friends, we should take all of you to get Keyblade Armor in the Land of Departure.” 

“Why all of us? I mean, I get me, Riku, and Eraqus. But Kairi hasn’t shown any interest in fighting.” Sora asks and Aqua is suspiciously quiet. 

Terra gives her a side-eye, “Aqua, is there something going on?” 

“I meet Kairi in Radiant Garden, and I think I might have unintentionally gone through with a Keyblade Inheritance Ceremony.” Aqua sheepishly admits as Terra stares at her with disbelief. 

“How do you accidentally-” 

“I was talking to some guards and she came up and grabbed my Keyblade.” Aqua defends. 

Terra groans while Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Eraqus laugh. “Well, I guess we would have started teaching eventually.” 

* * *

Castle That Never Was: 

“I’m going to assume you’ve heard the news,” Ansem says as he enters the room. 

Xemnas nods as a Dusk appears. “The Dusks have been keeping me updated. The Dusk tracking him report he’s approaching Olympus.” 

“Knowing him, he’ll land in the Coliseum.” 

“If so, then the magic there will prevent any permanent harm.” Xemnas. 

The Dusk makes a little dance, “Superior, there's been a report you may want to hear.” 

“What is it?” Xemnas asks annoyed. 

“The one to protect and the Keyblade wielder has encountered the Masters.” The Dusk tells him and a look of annoyance flashes on his face. “They appear to be following them.” 

Xemnas nods at the Dusk in acknowledgment, Ansem brings up, “Vor is no shoddy Master, they won’t let Eraqus get hurt. She’s looking for him now.” 

“I don’t doubt it,” Xemnas says as he dismisses the Dusk with a wave of his hand. “But, Eraqus is naturally curious and it is likely going to get distracted at some point.” 

“That’s exactly why I made him that guardian, which he named Kiyo.” 

Xemnas chuckles, “I can see that, he’s been remembering what happened.” 

“Truly?” 

“No, not truly. The Dusk report that he’s only been remembering bits and pieces.” Xemnas explains as the Dusk returns with a small trinket. 

“Is that a Shadow Amulet?” 

Xemnas nods, “The Shadow Amulet.” 

“I thought Xehanort got rid of that after Eraqus died.” Ansem comments, perturbed. 

“He had, Vor had taken it upon herself to retrieve it,” Xemnas says as he stares at the amulet. “She never did know when to stop.” 

Ansem snorts bitterly, “She sure messed up our plans. If she hadn’t interfered, Xehanort would have taken over Terra’s body and there would have been fewer Keyblade Masters walking around.” 

“We can’t change the past.” Xemnas monotones. 

“If Vanitas find out about us, he will not rest until we are both dead,” Ansem complains. 

“Indeed, so take care not to be caught,” Xemnas says dismissively. 

Ansem opens a dark corridor, “Cheery, also. For the record. The mansion in Twilight Town is abandoned.” he says as he steps through the corridor. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any comments, questions, concerns you guys have please do so. I'm looking for a beta reader so if you would like to beta reader. Please DM on discord, I'm Blake23.


End file.
